Best Friends Forever
by WhiteRose123
Summary: Stan has had a steady relationship with Wendy for seven years now, he was certain that he loved her. But when an openly gay new student expresses an interest in Kyle, Stan begins to have second thoughts about his relationship with Wendy and question what his true feelings are for his best friend. Style. Yaoi. M for language and sexual content.
1. Functioning in Society

**Author's Note: So, I'm going to be unoriginal and add to the millions of South Park high school stories that are already out there (Yes I know). I realize that the Kyle/Stan/Wendy triangle is pretty overused, but I'm going to do it anyways with the hopes of adding my own spin to it and making it a little less cliché. Let me know what you think!**

**Pairings: Lots of different pairings. Style is obviously the main and it starts off with Stendy, and there are also a few others that will be introduced later on. **

**Warnings: Well, I presume if you're watching South Park in the first place, you aren't easily offended, but gotta put this in anyways. This fic is rated M for language and sexual content in later chapters, so don't read if that stuff bothers you.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own South Park, nor do I own the cover art used for this story.**

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**Best Friends Forever**

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Chapter 1

_Functioning in Society_

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I exhaled nervously, feeling small lines of sweat running down my forehead as I stood alone, clad in a fancy tuxedo, in front of all the people I held dear in my life. Shifting my weight slightly, I glanced up and scanned the room. My parents, my friends, my classmates… even my dog Sparky, they were all there, watching me. Kyle stood nearby me, dressed equally fancily and for once not wearing his hat, his curled red hair framing his face as he smiled with encouragement at me. The whole thing seemed so surreal, so unnatural. My eyes finally landed on the female figure walking down the aisle, her long black hair contrasting rather nicely with the extravagant, flowing white dress, blue eyes sparkling and beaming as she made her way towards me.

I quickly rubbed my palms against my pants, which were sweating profusely due to my current state of nervousness. I'm not ready. I can't do this.

Wendy finally reached me at the head of the aisle, beaming at me as she faced me. She held the bouquet in one hand and moved to grab my hand with the other. God, I hope she didn't notice how sweaty they were. She was acting as if it was the best day of her life for her, but it couldn't be more the opposite for me. I couldn't remember why I agreed to this in the first place. I loved Wendy, but when did I ask her to marry me? I couldn't remember at all. Either way, I definitely wasn't ready for this level of commitment, but I felt as though I was stuck, unable to move, unable to speak. This didn't even feel real.

She looked up at me, bright cerulean eyes fixing on mine. I saw her mouth move as she spoke to me.

"Stanley?"

Wait, what? That was not Wendy's voice. That was definitely a male voice.

"Stanley!"

I heard the same voice speak again. Wendy and my surroundings began to blur and fade away.

"Stanley Marsh you wake up this instant!"

I opened my eyes, squinting slightly as I was met with the bright, fluorescent light of my 11th grade classroom. It was just a dream. Whew.

I felt someone gently nudge my arm. "Dude, wake up. We're in class."

It was Kyle. I could never mistake that voice. I groaned, lifting my head and turning to look at my best friend. He simply stared at me, his expression remaining neutral.

"Do you think algebra is a joke Stanley? This stuff is important; you need it to function in society! So you better stay awake and listen!" I turned to look at Mr. Garrison, his brows creased into a firm, disapproving glare and hands firmly placed on his hips.

"Yeah right," I heard Kenny mutter next to me, slouching further down in his chair.

Mr. Garrison, I thought I was done with him when I finished 4th grade. But one day, he decided that he was sick of elementary school students, and was reassigned to South Park High School. Or perhaps it was possible that the school board finally decided that his behavior was too inappropriate for Elementary School students and moved him themselves. That certainly seemed like the more plausible option, considering what his behavior was like when I was in 4th grade.

The 11th grade class size was so small that we only had a couple teachers. Mr. Garrison unfortunately taught three of my classes, Algebra, Geography, and English, none of which he was good at teaching. Age apparently did little to improve his teaching style… or ability to go a whole class without ranting about something unrelated. It was easy to space off and not pay attention in his classes, but I rarely actually fell asleep. Then again, I only got a few hours of sleep last night because of Wendy. She had a bad day, and being the good, dutiful boyfriend I am, I comforted her at the cost of my own rest.

"I'm sorry Mr. Garrison," I finally spoke with no real sincerity. "I won't do it again."

"You better not," he responded sternly, before turning back to the chalkboard to continue his lesson.

I heard Kenny groan out of boredom, noting him pick up his pencil out of the corner of my eye and beginning to doodle on the table. He hated this class as much as me. Then again, Kenny hated school in general. I'm pretty certain the only reason he hasn't dropped out is because of the easy access to girls his age. He was always perverted, even when he was just a kid, so I suppose I shouldn't be surprised that he turned out to be a bit of a manwhore. Kenny was effortlessly good looking, so much so that it almost made me a bit jealous. He didn't work out, he didn't style is hair or wear nice clothes… he didn't do _anything_, he was just 'all natural' I suppose. Lucky bastard. Once he stopped hiding his face with that orange park he used to wear, girls began to flock to him and he relished in it. Kyle and I would often make bets about how many STDs he has picked up by now – he claims zero, but I'm not certain I believe that.

Speaking of Kyle, to the left I heard him scribbling diligently in his notebook. Practically the polar opposite of Kenny in this regard, he religiously took notes in every class. I would never say it around Wendy, but I always considered Kyle to be the smartest person I knew. He was an anomaly of both book smart and street smart, combined with great common sense. He has always been quick to point out when something was a bad idea, and usually, he was right. I admired it a great deal. There's no one I'd rather ask for advice other than my best friend.

All too quickly Mr. Garrison's lecture became vague background noise, my thoughts drifting back to Wendy and the dream. Thank god it was only that. I loved Wendy; she was beautiful, smart, kind, I knew I wanted to be with her for a long time, but marriage? That was just too much to swallow. I wasn't ready for that yet, especially at our age.

Thankfully, Wendy wasn't in this class. I can only imagine her scolding look if she found out I was sleeping during class, the very thought made me cringe a little. Wendy valued highly education and genuinely cared about my success, she was always encouraging me to pay attention and take notes in class so I could get good grades. I wasn't as smart as her though, no matter how hard I tried, I would never be as successful in school as her.

Due to her above average academic performance, Wendy was placed in an advanced placement calculus class along with Token, Nichole, and a few other students. Kyle was also given the opportunity to attend that class as opposed to algebra, but he declined, claiming that he would rather have class with his friends. I was happy to have my best friend in class with me, but at the same time I was disappointed that he opted for a shittier education with Mr. Garrison when he could have had so much better.

I looked glanced over at Kyle again, who was still diligently taking notes. His eyes were hidden from my gaze by his green ushanka, the very same one that he wore as a kid. The majority of us had discarded the hats we wore as children, I honestly couldn't remember the last time I wore my blue hat. Kyle was the one exception to this. Even though he no longer had the "jewfro" he had as a kid, Kyle was still embarrassed about his hair, and chose to constantly obscure it with his hat. I never understood why, I liked Kyle's hair. It was unpredictable and fiery, much like his personality – it suited him quite well.

Continuing to tune out Mr. Garrison's lecture, I scanned the room. I glanced back over to Kenny, seeing that he was still drawing what seemed to be boobs on the school desk. Craig, who was sitting next to him, was sitting slouched in his chair, arms crossed and an utterly disinterested expression painting his face. Even the light pornography Kenny was making on his desk didn't seem to faze him.

In front of me was Clyde, who was half-heartedly taking notes, and next to him was his girlfriend Bebe. Bebe was Wendy's best friend, despite the fact that they were nearly polar opposites. Wendy had black hair, Bebe had blonde hair. Wendy had blue eyes, Bebe had brown eyes. Bebe wore copius amounts of make up and Wendy wore none. Bebe was a party girl, and Wendy was studious. Their friendship started when we were kids, which would explain why it even managed to occur, but how it has survived this long is beyond me. At least Kyle and I have some things in common, even if we had grown up to be quite different.

Bebe was considered by most to be the most attractive girl in school, having a large bust, curvy figure and long blonde hair. I'd never let on to Wendy that I think that about her friend… although I still much preferred Wendy's more conservative appearance. Unbeknownst to Kyle, Bebe had quite a large crush on him in our sophomore year, but he appeared to be oblivious to her advances. Eventually, Bebe gave up and opted for Clyde, who had been into her since our middle school years.

I was actually glad that Kyle ignored Bebe's advances. I had nothing against Bebe, she was indeed a pretty girl, but Kyle could do so much better. He deserved a loyal, down to earth girl that was just as smart as he, not a party girl that would dump him as soon as she got bored of him.

On the other side of Kyle sat Cartman, whose apparent level of boredom appeared to rival Craig's. He was slouched over his desk, his head propped up by his hand and eyes glazed over. Cartman was never one for school, especially mathematics. Unsurprisingly though, he thrived at debate. According to Wendy, who was in the debate club with Cartman, he is "rude, but convincing" with his arguments. No surprise there, that definitely sounds like Cartman, a master manipulator at heart.

Cartman still hung out with our group, but it our 'friendship' was still quite tentative. While he would occasionally act friendly towards us, normally he just used us as verbal punching bags, especially Kyle, whose rivalry with Cartman had not ceased at all over the years. Why Cartman always chose to sit next to Kyle in class was beyond me, but I presumed it was so he could find any opportunity to make fun of him. Kyle always made a point to tell Cartman just how unwelcome he was, but the larger boy would just laugh it off and do what he wanted, regardless of Kyle's opinion.

Yep, my friends were strange. But I suppose I wasn't much better, already a vegetarian and animal rights activist at age 17. A "hippie" as Cartman would call it. I suppose I am my own degree of weird, but I feel very strongly about my beliefs. Even if my friends didn't feel the same, I couldn't stand the thought of eating meat while knowing an innocent animal was killed to provide it to me. I'm sensitive, I admit that, but my sensitivity is what attracted Wendy to me in the first place, so I suppose it is a blessing in its own right.

I glanced back up at the blackboard, tuning back into what Mr. Garrison was saying. He was going over how to graph equations. Honestly, I didn't understand this stuff at all, and how Mr. Garrison explained it made it even more confusing. Oh well, I could just ask Kyle to explain it to me later. I was just too tired today to pay attention; thank god this was the last period of the day.

I felt my eyes once again begin to droop. Just as I was about to doze off again, I was startled awake by the school bell. Immediately I heard shuffling around me, as everyone scrambled to put their things away. The mad rush to get out of class that is so characteristic of the end of sixth period.

"Okay class! That's it for today; remember to do your homework on page 123 which will be due tomorrow!" I heard Mr. Garrison yell, attempting to speak over the noise the students were making. "Oh, and one more thing! We have a new student that will be attending class starting tomorrow. I know that you guys already have your little groups, but I want you to all include him! I heard that he swings for the same team." He said the last part much quieter. "But there is nothing wrong with that, so you better treat him nicely!"

I doubt many of the students actually listened to what Mr. Garrison was saying; most were already filing out the door, chatting loudly amongst themselves before he even finished. The majority of this class had watched Mr. Garrison go from a homophobic man to a gay man, to a straight woman, to a lesbian woman, and then back to a gay man during our 3rd and 4th grade years. I highly doubt the idea of a new potentially gay student bothered anyone in the slightestconsidering who we had for a teacher.

"A new kid, huh?" I heard Kyle pipe up next to me. "I wonder what he's like"

"You mean aside from being apparently gay?" I responded jokingly. That _is _literally all we had to go on right now.

"Uh, yeah, aside from that."

"Well you better watch yourself Kahl; you certainly look girly enough to attract a homo. He'll probably be all over your Jewish ass," I heard Cartman speak up behind us as we were making our way out of the classroom.

A taunt. Kyle, of course, fell for it as normal. "Shut the fuck up fatass, I am not 'girly'," he snapped back.

Cartman simply scoffed. "You keep telling yourself that girlfriend."

"I'm more masculine than your tubby ass. At least I don't have boobs."

I fell behind them, tuning out their bickering; I normally chose to stay out of their quarrels unless it got serious. They would go on like this for hours sometimes, but usually it was nothing more than exchanging petty insults.

Kenny appeared beside me, his arms casually tucked in his sweatshirt pockets as fell in step with me. "Hey dude," he greeted, flashing me a toothy grin. "Feeling more awake now?"

"Not really," I replied honestly. "Did your playboy sketches on the table satisfy your urges for the day?"

Kenny laughed. "Not by a long shot. In fact, I have someone I'm meeting after school today."

That is… quite unsurprising. "Is that so? Who's the victim this time?"

"Willing victim, mind you," Kenny rebutted. "It's that girl Red, you know, Wendy's friend." He leaned in close to me, speaking in a hushed whisper. "I heard that she loves taking it in the back door."

"_Sick_ dude, that's disgusting," I responded hastily, crinkling my nose in disgust. "Why would you even want to do that?"

Kenny shrugged. "Don't bash it until you've tried it."

"I suppose." I honestly can't even imagine trying anal sex with Wendy; she would probably kill me if I even asked. In fact, I even envision her reacting quite unfavorably if she knew one of her friends was doing those things with Kenny.

"Speak of the devil!" Kenny exclaimed, spotting red headed girl in question, who was chatting with her friend near the lockers. "See ya later dude!"

I watched Kenny run off to meet Red, wasting no time in intervening in her conversation with her friend to chat her up. I sighed and shook my head. That guy. I don't think it's even _possible _to think more with your dick than Kenny does.

I increased my pace to catch up with Kyle and Cartman, who had apparently finished arguing judging by their substantially more relaxed posture. Cartman was now boasting about something to an incredibly bored looking Kyle.

"-and than I just told her that it was none of her business because I had the authoritah, and that shut her right up!"

"Yeah, whatever," Kyle responded with obvious disinterest, rolling his eyes.

"I swear, it's true!" Cartman exclaimed, throwing his hands in the air to enunciate the point.

Kyle smiled at me on my approach and I readily returned it, moving to stand next to him. Cartman, seeing this, smirked at us. "Well, I guess I should just leave you lovebirds alone," he sang mockingly. "_I_ have a date with Wendy anyways; I can't be late for that. See you queers later!"

Cartman laughed and winked at me, before turning and striding confidently away from us. I felt Kyle fuming next to me, but I maintained my cool. Cartman had been making gay jokes about us since we were nine; I had learned not to take them seriously anymore… not so certain Kyle has though. As far as the "date with Wendy" thing goes… there was no credence to that. Cartman had debate with Wendy. That was all. I know that I wasn't in any danger of losing her to Cartman, she hated him almost as much as Kyle did. He just liked to boast that he got to spend time with her when I wasn't present.

"I can't believe him!" Kyle exclaimed, once again allowing himself to get riled up. "You're just going to let him get away with that?"

I shrugged and started walking down the hallway, Kyle closely following me. "It's just Cartman being Cartman. I wouldn't take it seriously."

"But still," Kyle began. "You're okay with him being alone with Wendy? I mean, what if he tries something? He's been acting this way about being in that club with her for a while."

I let out a light chuckle and shook my head. "Wendy can handle herself. Don't you remember when she kicked Cartman's ass back in fourth grade? I don't think I have anything to worry about."

Kyle burst out laughing at this, there's nothing he loved more than hearing about Cartman getting humiliated or beat up. "Haha yeah! He got his ass handed to him!"

It was pretty funny, even I admit that. At first I was nervous when I heard that Wendy challenged Cartman, but man, she really did kick his ass. That's something he never lived down, no matter how hard he tried to make everyone forget about it.

We walked in silence for a moment; we would normally walk together to the school gym after school every day. Football season was over, so I did not currently have an after school activity to attend like Wendy and most of my friends did. Wendy always wanted me to attend debate with her, but it just wasn't my thing. Why waste energy arguing about something _for fun_? I never understood that. Instead I opted to work out at the gym until she was done. I had to stay in shape for the next football season after all, or else the coach would have my head.

Kyle attended a martial arts class after school; he had been for about a year now. Kyokushin karate I think he called it. It was a relatively new addition to the school's after-class activities and apparently Mr. Mackey recommended the class to him after he had gotten into a few too many fights with Cartman, claiming that it would be a good way to "channel his anger". I can't say the class has helped quell his temper at all, but at least he enjoys it. I've thought about attending it with him during non-football seasons, but fighting isn't really my thing either. Don't get me wrong, I'm plenty athletic and I'm sure I can hold my own in a fight if I _needed _to, but I would only ever fight if I was forced into it. Football was about as violent as I could get.

I felt my phone rumble in my pocket, signifying a text message. It was probably from Wendy, she normally texted me after school each day. I shoved my hand in my pocket, tugging the rectangular device out and switching it on while Kyle watched me out of the corner of his eye.

"_-Hey, do you want to go out somewhere today after debate? Bebe wants to hang out, and I was thinking we could have a double date with her and Clyde. Love you! Xoxo-" _

Ugh.

I honestly had no interest in hanging out with Bebe _or_ Clyde, I was never good friends with either of them, plus I was tired, and had homework to do tonight. I just wanted to go home and relax. But, at the same time, I couldn't say no to Wendy. She would be disappointed in me, and there was truly nothing I hated more than that. I replied back, telling her I would be available. I'm a pushover, I admit it.

I sighed. It's times like this that I wish that Kyle was the one to date Bebe, at least then I would get to hang out with him instead of Clyde.

"Hey, Stan," Kyle spoke, breaking the silence. "Are you okay today? I mean, you seem really tired, I've never seen you fall asleep in class before."

"Ah, yeah, I'm fine," I replied, hastily brushing off his concern. "I was just up really late last night, Wendy was upset about a fight she had with her friend and needed someone to keep her company."

"So, she vented to you all night?" Kyle scratched the back of his head. "That seems… excessive."

I shrugged. "It's okay, as long as it's not an every night sort of thing, I can handle it. She's my girlfriend... I kind of have to comfort her when things like that happen."

"Yeah, but still… if you're losing sleep over it, it's not okay," he said, a disapproving look coating his face. "I doubt she would be happy if she knew you were falling asleep during class."

"Yeah… I suppose not," I muttered quietly, staring at the ground. He did have a point.

Kyle had always been supportive of my relationship with Wendy, but at the same time he was critical of it. Although they seemed to like each other on the surface, there was a bit of tension between them which I occasionally had the displeasure of dealing with. Kyle disliked that I didn't hang out with him as much as a used to because of Wendy, and always saw her as being too controlling. On the other hand, Wendy always grew jealous when I wanted to hang out with Kyle, believing that I was blowing her off for him. Best friend and girlfriend, sometimes it was difficult to have them both. But I didn't want to lose either of them, so I continued with this lifestyle with the hopes that it wouldn't escalate between them.

We made our way to the locker room to change into our respective work-out clothes. As I was inputing the combination to my lock, I saw Craig come in out of the corner of my eyes, who also attended the martial arts class. He nodded a mute greeting at Kyle before making his way to the other side of the locker room, completely ignoring my presence.

I was never sure what to think of Craig, I had known him since I was five years old and I still never developed a solid opinion of him. We rarely had any interaction, so I suppose that would make it difficult to know what he was really like. He was one of those 'tough guys', I knew that much, but he always had this emotionless, apathetic air about him. I always found it a bit odd, and I was well aware of the fact that he was not too fond of me. According to Kyle, he had started learning karate back in middle school, and had already earned his black belt. Good for him, I guess. It was quite suiting, considering all the fights he used to get into during grade school.

I quickly changed into my gym shorts and shirt before peaking over at Kyle, who was in the process of tying his belt. Kyle's belt was green, which according to him is a mid-upper level rank. Once he was finished, he removed his hat and placed it in his locker, one of the rare moments that I would see him take it off as apparently hats were not allowed for this activity – they got in the way. I watched as he rubbed his hand over his hair, in attempt to smooth it out.

I don't know why he is so self-conscious about it; I personally think he looks pretty good without his hat. I'm sure he would have more girls interested in him if he didn't wear it. I would never actually say anything about that to him though, that'd just be strange. We were great friends, but we weren't… like that.

"Stan? What are you staring at? Do I have something on my face?!" He said, hands immediately clasping to his cheeks and rubbing, trying to find the invisible 'something' that might be there.

Staring? Oh, I guess I was. Oops. "Ah, no, you're good. I was just looking at your belt."

It was partially true at least.

"Oh yeah! I'm hoping to advance up soon, there is a belt test coming up in a couple weeks. Hopefully I will earn my brown belt then," he said with excitement.

"How much longer until you go for your black belt? That's the last rank right?"

"Yep. Brown is the rank before black. So if all goes well, I'll hopefully get it before the end of the year."

"You know Kyle, I never would have expected you to be so good at this. It doesn't really match the whole super nerd thing you have going on the rest of the time," I joked, flashing him a smile.

"Hey!"

I laughed, lightly slapping him on the shoulder and rubbing slightly. "You should let me know when your test is, I'll come cheer you on."

"Alright, I'll let you know," he smiled at me. "Anyways, I better get going... Would you be up for coming over to play some gamesphere later tonight?"

"Man, you know I'd love to, but I can't. Wendy wants to go on a double tonight," I said truthfully, I really would rather spend the night playing gamesphere with Kyle than do this _stupid_ double date thing with Wendy.

"Double date?" He questioned, quirking a single red eyebrow. "With who?"

"Bebe and Clyde," I bit out begrudgingly.

"I'm sorry," Kyle said, offering me a sympathetic smile. "They are pretty gross sometimes aren't they?"

I snorted. "You're telling me, they can't go five seconds without eating each others faces."

"Maybe you just shouldn't go then," Kyle insisted. "It's obvious you don't want to - I can tell, you're too easy to read. Just tell Wendy you aren't comfortable with it."

_"_Dude, you know I can't. It will disappoint her," I stated. Kyle has never been in a serious relationship, he doesn't understand that sometimes, you have to do things you may not want to for your loved one. He'll understand someday. "It'll be fine. I'll just deal with it."

"Right, of course it will disappoint her. Like always," Kyle said with a roll of his eyes, voice laced with sarcasm. "I'd like to think that people who care about each other wouldn't force each other to do things they don't like."

"Kyle," I sighed out with an edge of frustration. "Can we please not do this right now?"

Kyle mimicked my sigh, staring at the ground in silence for a few seconds. "You're right, I'm sorry. I just don't want to see my best friend taken advantage of... but I know you're fine, I'll stop."

"Thanks. It'll be fine, I'll just deal with it. It's only one night after all," I said, breathing a sigh of relief that Kyle backed down and didn't turn this into a big deal. I know he does it because it cares, but I really just can't deal with it right now.

"That's true, I suppose Wendy doesn't do this that often. Good luck though," he said, flashing me another sympathetic smile. "Anyways, I better get going, I'm already late for class. Talk to you later Stan!"

"How about tomorrow night?" I called out as he began to jog away.

"Huh?" He stopped and cocked his head towards me.

"Lets hang out tomorrow night instead," I offered again. "We haven't actually hung out together for fun in over a week now. Gamesphere and chill?"

At this, I watched Kyle's mouth curl into a beaming grin, and I'd be lying if I said it didn't make me feel warm and fuzzy inside to see that. "Sounds great!" He said. "Anyways, I really do need to go. See ya dude!"

I watched Kyle turn and begin to jog away, red curls bouncing like slinkies around his head and eventually disappearing from my line of sight as he made his way to the padded room where he had class. I sighed; crisis avoided, thank god. For a few moments, I thought that today was going to end with another argument with him about Wendy. I could still tell that he wasn't happy about it, he is still constantly under the impression that Wendy takes advantage of me, but at least he is placated for now.

I really, truly, and honestly didn't know how to manage them sometimes. Kyle didn't have a girlfriend to spend time with when I wasn't around. If he did, he would probably understand my predicament a bit better. I had to make time for both my girlfriend and my friends, which wasn't always easy. I wish I had more time to be able to hang out with Kyle more, I do miss seeing him as often as I used to... but girlfriends have to come first.

I sighed to myself and made my way towards the weight room. Fuck this double date, the rest of the day was definitely going to be a long one. Somehow I doubted I would be getting much sleep tonight either.

...

_To be continued…_

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**A/N: Well, first chapter done. Sorry if it's boring, this chapter is meant to be more of a set up to introduce the characters whatnot. I promise it will get more interesting later. Love it or hate it, I would enjoy some feedback, so let me know what you think.**


	2. Not One Bit

**Author's Note: So here we are with chapter 2! Playing South Park: Stick of Truth is actually what rekindled my interest in South Park and gave me the idea of this story in the first place (as far as a new kid OC goes). This OC is… nothing like the play character in the game, but that's where I got the idea. It's a great game by the way, I recommend playing it if you haven't already. Anyways, I hope you guys enjoy the next chapter! Thank you to those who reviewed/favorite/followed last chapter! I really do appreciate any feedback I get, it encourages me to write more that's for sure!**

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**Best Friends Forever**

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Chapter 2

_Not One Bit_

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I awoke with a start the next morning, nearly smashing my alarm in surprise as it blared like a siren into my ears. I groaned, pushing myself out of bed, seven o'clock AM… far too early.

I was out with Wendy until at least eight last night. The double date went okay I suppose, it wasn't _as _horrible as I expected. We ended up going to a nice café that Wendy picked out and just stayed there just chatting for a couple hours… well, more like Wendy and Bebe chatted while Clyde and I sat in awkward silence, twiddling our thumbs. At least he wasn't smashing faces with his girlfriend the entire time.

I didn't have anything against Clyde; we just didn't know each other very well. I grew up with him, sure, but he was never really a part of my circle of friends. I just hope this double date thing doesn't become a frequent thing for Wendy. I love her, but I want to spend time with _her_, not her friends.

At least I was able to actually get some rest. Once that "date" was over, Wendy went straight home as she had her own homework to do. I was hoping to have her help me with the math homework I didn't understand, but she had much more difficult classes than me and likely had more work along with that, so I didn't even bother to ask. Fortunately a quick text to Kyle and he was kind enough to come over to help me out. I'll have to remember to thank him again for that today; I would have never been able to finish it without his help.

I quickly showered and dressed, making my way downstairs to get some breakfast and was readily greeted with the boring droll of the morning news. I don't think I would ever find that stuff interesting, no matter how much the anchorman exaggerated his stories.

"Mornin' son," my dad greeted, his face obscured by the newspaper he had his nose in

"Good morning Stanley," my mom also greeted with a warm smile. "Can I make you anything for breakfast?"

"Sure, can I just get some eggs and toast please?"

Even though I was going to be eighteen in a year, my mom still loved to take care of me. Not that I minded, I would probably be having cereal for every meal if I didn't have her to cook for me. Sure, the doting did get a little overbearing at times, but at least she wasn't as clingy as Kyle's mom.

"Hey, the mega millions jackpot is up to $414 million now," I heard my dad exclaim with a dangerous amount of excitement. Oh no, that's never a good thing for him. "We should get some more tickets; I have a good feeling about it this time!"

I sighed and shook my head at him. "Dad, you bought like one hundred tickets last week and you didn't even come close." I remember well, he made me help check them.

"Yeah! But I have a hunch that I'm really going to win this week, I can feel it!" He replied with enthusiasm.

"Randy, no more lotto tickets please." Mom ordered rather unenthusiastically as she flipped one of the eggs currently cooking on the stove.

"But Sharon!" He whined. "We could be millionaires! Don't you want that?"

"I said no. It was a complete waste of money last time," she ordered once again, far more sternly this time.

Dad let out a disappointed 'awww', dramatically folding up the paper and tossing it aside. Nothing new there, he was always dramatic about even the smallest things. I'm pretty certain I surpassed my dad terms of maturity a long time ago. When I was younger, his melodramatic and impulsive behavior used to really embarrass me. Well… it still does actually, but I suppose I was more used to it now.

There was no conversation amongst us for the rest of the morning. I quickly ate my breakfast before bidding goodbye to my parents for the day.

I was greeted by the biting chill of the Colorado air as excited the far warmer, welcoming house to make my way to the bus stop, the fresh, un-shoveled snow crunching beneath my feet. Winters in South Park were always rough. I wasn't necessarily interested in moving away and leaving my friends, but I sure do wish I could have been born somewhere warmer.

I was the first one to arrive, as per usual. I stood next to the worn yellow sign, huffing out a puff of breath that rapidly condensed into visible steam in the frigid air. I casually reached into my pocket and grabbed my phone, texting Wendy a quick 'good morning' text as I waited. She loved getting those. I may not be the best boyfriend, but I tried to express my love with little things like that.

"Hey dude."

I immediately recognized that voice, it was Kyle. I smiled a greeting at him. "Hey."

"Get any sleep last night?"

"Yeah, all thanks to you." I really did owe him for coming over so late to help me, he didn't have to do that. Yet, it was something it did so often without hesitation. "Thanks again for helping me. I would have been up all night trying to figure that out."

"Anytime, you know I don't mind," he said, flashing me a reassuring grin.

"Oh, I know _you _don't, but I do. You know your parents are going to catch you sneaking out someday," I responded, shuffling in place and absentmindedly raking my hand through my hair. "What would your mom do? I'm terrified to even think about it."

"Murder me in the most painful way possible I'm sure," Kyle replied jokingly. "Either way, I'll deal with the consequences once it happens," he shrugged. "I've gotten pretty good at the whole sneaking out thing anyways."

I chuckled. "You sure have."

This isn't the first time Kyle has snuck out at night to come see me.

Mrs. Brofloski normally refused to allow Kyle to stay out past eight, but that never stopped him from sneaking out anyways. Kyle's parents, especially his mom, always tried to keep him on such a short leash. When he was younger, he was constantly fearful of his mother's wrath, but lately he has become much more defiant. A rebellious phase I suppose. I disliked the idea of him getting in trouble, especially because of me. But at the same time, it was nice to see him try to break away from the almost suffocating hold his parents had on him.

"Oh mah god! You guys!" I heard Cartman huff out in between pants, running towards us as fast as his chubby legs could carry him. "You guys!" He exclaimed once again, stopping and taking a moment to catch his breath once he made it to the bus stop where we were standing.

"Oh god, what is it this time fatass?" Kyle replied, his tone laced with clear annoyance; likely paired with that snarky, characteristic eye roll that he always did when Cartman was acting… well, like Cartman.

"It's-" He paused for a moment, hands resting firmly on his thighs as he huffed out strained bursts of laughter in-between fatigued pants. "It's the new kid!"

"Yeah? What about him? Spit it out already," Kyle retorted irritably. No patience whatsoever for Cartman this morning on his part… not that there ever was.

Cartman suddenly burst into a cackling laughter, hands clutching his stomach as he attempted to speak in between breaths. "You guys should see him! Oh mah god, it's hilarious! He looks like a girl!"

"So what?" Kyle grumbled in a disinterested tone as he moved to tuck a loose strand of fiery red hair under his hat.

"Cartman, you've already met the new kid?" I asked. Unlike Kyle, I was genuinely curious, when did this happen?

"Nah, but Token said that they were moving in next door to his family, so I went there last night to check it out."

Ah, spying on him already. South Park was such a small town that everyone knew each other, so any news of a new family was quite a big deal. Cartman _loved _to stick his nose into everything, so I suppose it wasn't a surprise that he was the first one to see this new family, even if it was uninvited on their part.

"You're going to get arrested for that someday fatass," Kyle added in as a side comment, without looking up from his phone which he was currently fixated on. I found myself edging with minor curiosity on who exactly he was texting this early. Kenny maybe?

"Only if I get caught." Cartman stated in a matter of fact tone, leaning in closer to Kyle and tauntingly elbowing his arm, prompting Kyle to glare up at him in annoyance. "You aren't going to tell on me, are you Jew?"

"Nope, I'll just be there to laugh when you go to jail for it," Kyle retorted nonchalantly, tucking his phone back into his pocket.

"Not gonna happen! I'm far too sneaky for that," Cartman replied in proudly, patting himself boastfully on the chest.

Kyle simply rolled his eyes, slipping his hands into the pockets of his jacket and resigning himself to ignoring Cartman.

I wouldn't be surprised if Cartman ended up in jail… If not for trespassing, then for something else surely. With all the shit he's pulled, it's amazing he hasn't at least ended up in juvy yet. Just lucky I guess.

The loud rumble of the school bus became apparent as the large yellow vehicle turned the corner and came to a screeching halt next to us. Kenny still hasn't arrived yet, although skipping school was not an unusual thing for him, so I guess he's not coming today.

…

Our bus stop was the last one before the school, well, the last one of the two that existed in the small town of South Park. Fortunately, that meant short rides both to school and home. We made it to the school within five minutes, the driver quickly ushering us off the bus the moment it stopped.

I scanned the area for Wendy once I got off the bus as per usual. Luckily for her, she lived mere minutes away from the school and could easily walk instead of taking the bus. She typically arrived before me for that reason. I quickly spotted her chatting with Bebe at their usual spot next to the school's entrance.

"I'll talk to you guys later. I have to go see Wendy." I bided Kyle and Cartman goodbye. I typically parted ways with my friends at this point in favor of my girlfriend.

"Okay… see you Stan," Kyle responded. He sounded disappointed, which made me twinge just a little in guilt, but he should know by now that this is the routine. I did this every morning.

I glanced over at him as I was walking away and noticed that he was looking at me… almost longingly? At least, that's the only description I could give to that expression. I wonder what his deal is today? He doesn't normally act upset about this. Perhaps he doesn't want to be left alone with Cartman, which I did feel bad about. Normally at least Kenny was there to help balance things out. I saw Cartman tauntingly jab Kyle with his elbow and say something that caused Kyle to glare at him. No verbal retort from Kyle though, only a half-hearted glare… that's unusual, I wonder what Cartman said?

Oh well, just an off day for him I suppose. I trust Kyle would tell me if something was truly bugging him.

Wendy flashed me a charming smile when I approached her, coming forth and embracing me. I responded with a chaste kiss to her forehead – nothing too obscene at school. Some couples, like Bebe and Clyde, had no issue with publicly smashing faces at school. Wendy was not like that, she was very much against crude public displays of affection. She would have my head if I even tried.

Speaking of the devil, I spotted Clyde was striding towards us with a snide air of confidence encircling him, reminding me all too well of why I wasn't too fond of him. Acting as if Wendy and I were not present, he swooped in and captured a giggling Bebe's lips in a passionate kiss before eagerly grabbing her wrist and leading her around back. Bebe turned around for just a moment to wave goodbye to Wendy before happily following her boyfriend behind the school, likely for a more private make out session.

I noticed Wendy roll her eyes at them out of the corner of my eye, exhaling a disappointed sigh through her teeth. Similar to how she hated displaying affection publicly, it was the same when others performed such actions, especially when the culprits involved her best friend. Wendy was surprisingly good at refraining from the urge to gossip publicly about her friends, but she's certainly not above quietly judging them. Makes me wonder why she wanted that double date with them in the first place.

She sighed disapprovingly again before turning to face me, cerulean eyes gazing into my own. "Thank you for last night Stan."

"Why?"

"I could tell you weren't thrilled about the idea of a double date, but you still agreed to it anyways, so… thank you. I had fun," she said as if reading my mind.

"Of course Wendy, it's no problem," I grinned at her. "You know I would do anything for you."

"I was thinking that maybe… tonight… you could come over to my place. My parents are both gone for business trip right now, so I have the place to myself. Just the two of us this time," she flashed me a shy, yet alluring smile.

I could practically feel my pants tighten at the prospect – Wendy was a prude out in public, but that doesn't mean she's that way in private. "That sounds great."

How could I refuse such an offer?

She grinned in response, prompting me to swoop down and give her a light peck on her cold-chilled lips.

Oh wait… oh shit. Kyle. I did make plans with him yesterday that I would hang out with _him _tonight… but I couldn't turn down an opportunity like this. Wendy and I had been dating for some time, but we had only just become sexually active, and even then it was a rare occurrence due to the ever constant presence of parents. I took what opportunities I could get… Kyle would just have to understand.

I vaguely heard Wendy begin to speak again but I tuned her out, albeit unintentionally, as I took a moment to see what Kyle was up to. He was still with Cartman, but Craig and Token had also joined them. I felt my eyes narrow, an uncomfortable feeling twisting in my gut as I watched Craig talk to Kyle. I know the two are friends, and perhaps it's related to my own tentative relationship with Craig, but I really did not like the idea of Kyle hanging out with him. Kyle could make better friends than him outside of our main group, ones that are not uncaring, boring assholes with tendency for extreme apathy and bullying.

I hated it, but I tried to block out the thought. There's nothing wrong with Kyle having friends that aren't me. He _should_ have other friends too, that's perfectly normal. It's not like he would never replace me as his _best friend_.

"-Stan? Stan! Are you even listening to me?! What are you staring at?" Jarred back into reality by what was right in front of me, my eyes quickly flickered back to Wendy, who sharply nudged my side as she spoke to me in an elevated voice in attempt to get my attention.

"I… sorry, I wasn't looking at anything - just thinking," I responded quickly, shuffling uncomfortably in place.

What was I supposed to tell her? That I was staring at Kyle and felt jealous because he was forming closer friendships with people who weren't me? She wouldn't take that well, she was already on the brink of jealousy on how close my friendship is why Kyle as is.

"Yes you were! I saw you! You weren't looking at some other girl were you?" She challenged, her voice edging with agitation.

"I… I was looking at Token," I lied and I saw her quirk an eyebrow at me. "Sometimes I worry that I will lose you to him again" I quickly added.

The lie almost came reflexively, it's true I didn't necessarily want her to know I was watching Kyle… but claiming to be watching Token almost seemed worse. I expected that she would be mad about me admitting to being jealous of her old flame, but instead her face softened, her hand finding and entwining itself with one of mine.

"Oh Stan, you shouldn't be worried about Token," she said, blue eyes gazing up tenderly at mine. "That was way back in Elementary School, I'm with you now. I love you, and only you. You know this."

I smiled and wrapped my arm around her shoulder, squeezing her lightly into my body. "I know, it's just hard to not worry sometimes ya know?"

Truthfully, I wasn't actually jealous of Token, never was… well, not anymore. Sure, back in the day when I found out she had first left me for him I burned with jealousy and went into a depressive state for several weeks. But I was young, and Wendy's "relationship" with Token was so short-lived it barely even counts as one. She came back to me in the end and we've been going strong ever since.

She grinned into my shoulder. "I know." She spoke, her voice slightly muffled by my jacket. "There have been times I've worried about losing you too. Lots of girls at this school find you attractive."

I snorted and responded only by hugging her tighter. So she has said before. Wendy claims to have had issues in the past with some of her female classmates treating her poorly because they were supposedly jealous of her relationship with _me_. I knew I wasn't bad looking, but I certainly never considered myself attractive enough to make other girls envious of my girlfriend. The very prospect still seems ridiculous. Although it's even more ridiculous that Wendy was ever worried that I would leave her for one of those girls… Wendy is the only girl I've ever been interested in.

The obnoxious blare of the school bell went off as if it was made for the sole purpose of interrupting our 'moment'. I sighed, reluctantly letting go of Wendy as she untangled herself from my arms.

"See you at lunch?" She asked, although it was toned more as a statement.

"Of course."

…

Lunch time at South Park High often reminded me of a feeding frenzy of piranhas as the students scurried in hoards from third period to the cafeteria in effort to be the first in line to get their food. I rarely packed my own lunch, and my parents had stopped doing that long ago, so I was one of those unfortunate students that scrambled for a good position in line.

Today wasn't one of my lucky days though. I grumbled slightly as I took my position near the back of the line. I perked up when I spotted the familiar green glint of Kyle's hat wading through the mass of students in the cafeteria. So he is still here. Despite coming to school this morning, Kyle was absent from the first three periods this morning. Kyle has an unfortunately poor immune system and got sick often, so it wasn't uncommon for him to be absent or leave school early. But he also didn't respond to my texts asking where he was, which _was _uncommon for him.

I wasn't about to leave my spot in line to go talk to him though, I'll ask him after I get my food. I watched as he disappeared amongst the crowd of people, likely heading to our usual spot in the cafeteria. Kyle never ate the cafeteria food, as alongside getting standard colds fairly easily, he also suffers from Type 1 Diabetes. In addition to eating frequently, this required him to maintain a fairly strict diet, and the cafeteria food just wasn't compatible with that. He truly did hate having to follow those restrictions - and people being aware of him having diabetes in the first place, but it is what it is... I'm just glad he has in under control and it doesn't consume his life in the same way it does to Scott Malkinson.

"Sweet. Thanks for saving me a spot in line brah." I heaved a sigh, turning towards the voice, although I didn't need to to know who it was. Cartman nudged his way in next to me in line, earning an annoyed scowl from the girl behind me. "Fucking ridiculous how long it takes to get some food around here."

Cartman has made no effort to lose weight over the past couple of years. Luckily for him, he grew rather tall as well, and much of his excess weight just made him appear as a giant mass rather than a short ball of lard. But he was still the heaviest person in the school by far, and far, far from being within a healthy weight.

"In that case, you should start packing a lunch," I responded nonchalantly with a shrug, tucking my hands in the pockets of my blue sweatshirt.

"That would be pointless; Mom doesn't have those cheesy bread things that they serve here." Cartman responded. "Anyways, have you seen the new kid yet? He's been following Kahl around like a lost puppy all day, it's hilarious!"

Oh yeah. I had almost forgotten about this supposed new student. "Is that why Kyle wasn't in class this morning?"

Cartman shrugged. "Who knows. I just know that that he was with that fuckin' new kid every time I saw him. They're probably off making out in their own little corner now."

I narrowed my eyes at him. "Kyle's not like that, he's just being nice I'm sure."

Although I shouldn't be surprised that Cartman is making jokes like that. He's been making gay jokes about Kyle since we were nine, although usually they involved me… It was somewhat weird that they didn't now.

Cartman scoffed. "The little Jew hasn't had a girlfriend his entire life¸ has hasn't even shown _interest_ in girls. Even when the hottest fucking girl in the school had a hard on for him, he didn't even bat an eye. How could you _not _have noticed this by now?"

"_You _haven't had a girlfriend your entire life, that's hardly a good argument."

"Yes I have, she was just long distance," Cartman spoke quickly. It was obvious he was lying through his teeth. "You guys just never met her."

I didn't call him out on it though. I honestly didn't care enough to. "Whatever. Kyle just hasn't found the right girl yet¸ he will eventually."

Cartman simply snorted, turning away in anticipation as we grew nearer to the front of the line. "The little kike will have to get over you first," I heard him mutter sardonically under his breath.

Ah, there are the gay jokes involving me. Okay, everything is normal.

Rumor has it that this new student is a 100% and completely out of the closet homosexual. There's nothing wrong with that, but I'm sure that he would realize that Kyle isn't like that. I'm sure Cartman is just exaggerating like always.

I watched as Cartman bought enough food to feed _at least_ three people, none of it exactly healthy either… two slices of pizza, cheesy bread, French fries… his cholesterol must be through the roof at this point.

Upon seeing my arrival, the lunch lady immediately collected my usual lunch order: a salad and two breadsticks. I always ordered the same thing. The school had a severe lack of vegetarian options, so that was really my only choice unfortunately.

I collected my food and followed Cartman, who was already hobbling over to our usual spot in the cafeteria. Much of our group was the same group of people that I grew up with throughout elementary school… Bebe, Clyde, Token, Craig, Tweek, Red… and of course Kyle, Kenny, and Cartman. Our High School class _was _small, but it was still larger than our elementary school, and there were quite a few students outside of our group that I did not know. Although of our group, I really only interacted frequently with Wendy and Kyle, Kenny, and Cartman.

I seated myself across the way from Kyle next to Cartman, placing my backpack on the seat next to me to save a spot for Wendy who had not yet arrived. It was not uncommon for her to stay after class to chat with the teacher or work on homework for a bit longer, so she was often late for lunch. Kenny, who had apparently decided to show up for school, albeit late, was sitting next to Kyle, his left arm leisurely slung around Red on his other side as he picked at his food with his free hand. He smiled and winked a greeting at me as I sat down, nodding towards Red with a satisfied grin. Ah, the typical 'look at me! I got laid!' Kenny look. I'm sure I'll hear all about it later, Kenny wasn't one for sparing details.

Although my attention was quickly distracted from Kenny to the unknown male that was boldly seated next to Kyle, a bit closer than I would deem appropriate for two males… Yet, Kyle did not appear to be bothered by the apparent closeness. I guess I shouldn't be surprised though, Kyle would never appear outwardly uncomfortable if he thought it would hurt or offend someone, he's too nice for that… well, unless that person was Cartman that is.

So… I'm guessing this person is the new student everyone has been talking about

He had an interesting look about him for sure… Cartman wasn't too far off in saying that he 'looked like a girl', although he wasn't necessarily unattractive either… in many senses he was actually pretty good looking – at least as good looking as a male could regard another male. His features were fairly pointed, a subtle tan gracing his skin. He had dirty blonde hair that hung roughly an inch above his shoulders, and, as far as I could tell from a seated position, a slim body type. He eyed me pointedly with hazel eyes as I sat across from him, making no motion to speak.

"Hey Stan," Kyle greeted, flashing me a friendly smile.

"Hey dude," I replied, returning his smile. "Missed you in class this morning, where were you?" I had a feeling I already knew the answer to this, but I asked regardless.

"Oh, yeah, the Principal called me to her office early this morning and asked me to show around Adrian-"he gestured to the blonde boy next to him, who continued to eye me. "-around school and help him get acquainted to the new environment. She said it was okay to miss class to do so since I'm ahead on most of my work anyways… speaking of which, Adrian this is Stan, he's a good friend of mine and also the quarterback of the school's football team."

"Yeah, they're _great _friends," Cartman sniggered, which earned an annoyed scowl from Kyle.

Adrian quirked his eyebrows in response to Cartman's comment before glancing back at me with an expression I couldn't quite decipher. "A pleasure to meet you Stan," he spoke with a subtle accent – although I couldn't quite place the nationality… something European I think. "My name is Adrian Durant… I've been enjoying hanging out with your friend today, Kyle has been _very_ welcoming."

Sometimes, there are people that just rub you the wrong way the moment you meet them, and I could already tell that this guy was one of him. I chose to be cordial regardless. "Welcome to South Park High," I took his outstretched hand, firmly shaking it.

"I'm looking _so_ forward to getting to know you all," Adrian continued in a drawl. "America has been such a bore in comparison to France thus far,-" Ah, French, that's what his accent is. "-But I think I'm going to like South Park _much _better than New York City… especially if you all are as nice as Kyle here… although I'm not sure that is possible" He clasped his hand amicably on Kyle's shoulder, causing him to flinch slightly in response.

The slight tinge of pink that formed on Kyle's cheek in response to the gesture didn't go unnoticed by me. What the hell is going on here? Was Cartman actually right? No, no, it's just Cartman exaggerating as per usual. Kyle is just being nice, and blushing probably out of embarrassment of this guy's blatant flirting. Asshole. Can't he see that Kyle isn't like that?

"Uh oh Stan, looks like you got some competition." Fucking Cartman. Looks like Kyle's blush didn't go unnoticed by him either.

Kyle glared daggers at Cartman in response, opening his mouth to retort, but I beat him to it this time. "Cartman, shut the fuck up," I snapped at him, a bit more nastily than I had intended.

Typically the gay jokes Cartman would make about us didn't even make me flinch. He has been making them for so long now, and we had come to accept it as just Cartman being Cartman… but today, something about today… he just needed to shut up.

Cartman simply grinned, obviously satisfied, responding with a snide "Ooooo" before returning his attention to his food.

The table fell silent, and for a moment it felt like all eyes were on me. Kenny was lazily observing the scene, an amused look playing on his face. On the other end of the table, I saw Tweek staring curiously at us while Clyde whispered something to Token, even Craig appeared more interested in our conversation than he normally does. I felt my face heat up in minor embarrassment.

I suppose seeing me losing my temper is rather abnormal. No one would even take a second look if Kyle had said that instead of me due to his well-known short-temper, especially around Cartman. I mean, I get it, I got mad at Cartman and I don't normally do that, but god, does it really require this kind of a reaction?

"Oh I see, this is _very _interesting." Adrian suddenly spoke up, breaking the short, yet incredibly awkward silence. "So… are you two together then?"

Wow, _wow_. Seriously? Those kinds of questions already coming from him, a guy I met a mere five minutes ago? Cartman sniggered in response, but made no retort, while Kenny's amused grin widened. Ugh… thank god Wendy isn't here right now.

I was about to open my mouth up to respond, but I found myself hesitating. Of course Kyle and I aren't together, I don't like him like that, and neither does he for me. This should be a simple, quick answer... but, if I say we aren't together, then this Adrian will know Kyle is 'available'. The thought of this guy continuing to flirt with my best friend made me feel sick to my stomach.

Before I could even formulate a response, Kyle responded for me, the red tint his cheeks visibly darker now. "No… no we aren't together. Stan has a girlfriend."

"Oh I see… lucky me then," Adrian responded gleefully, mouth splitting into a grin.

I felt my eye twitch. Ugh, this guy. I _really _hope Kyle tells him to stop soon.

"Stan!" I didn't need to look up to know that the feminine voice belong to Wendy. She seated herself next to me, giving me a quick peck on the cheek in greeting. "Sorry I'm late, I wanted to talk to Mrs. Harris about a project she assigned us." She paused, staring at me with slight concern in her eyes. "… is everything alright Stan? You seem tense."

Is it really that noticeable? I suppose I shouldn't be surprised that Wendy picked up on it though, her and Kyle can read me like a book. "Ah, no, everything is fine," I responded quickly, wrapping my arm around her shoulder in a reassuring manner.

"This is Stan's girlfriend," Kyle suddenly spoke up. "Wendy Testeburger, she's the president of the Debate Club if that's something you'd be interested in joining."

"Are you in the Debate Club too?" Adrian asked in response.

"Me? Ah… no, no I'm not." Kyle responded, obviously avoiding eye contact with Adrian, who was staring at him intently.

"Then I'm not interested."

This guy… he is coming on _way_ too strong. I feel my irritation slowly begin to rise again due to Kyle's obvious – well it was obvious to me at least- discomfort in response to Adrian's remarks. How can he not be picking up on the fact that Kyle isn't interested?

"Why not?" Wendy suddenly piped up. "The Debate Club is an excellent way to meet new people and get adjusted to the school. There are a lot of really friendly people there -"she paused briefly to glance at Cartman. "-Well, mostly friendly people."

Wendy was truly passionate about this club. I admired that trait about her, although sometimes she just talked my ear off about this. This time though, I was quite happy that she decided to interrupt Adrian's blatantly poor attempts at flirting with a pitch about the club.

"I agree with Wendy," Kyle added in. "It's one of the better clubs offered here."

Wendy smiled. "See? Thanks Kyle," she continued. "You should really consider it. Anyways, I don't think I've actually gotten your name yet, you are the new student here right?"

I watched in silence as Wendy conversed amicably with Adrian, advertising the clubs that she thought he should join and prying out more information about his background. He appeared somewhat bored with the conversation, but acted friendly regardless.

I learned that he was originally from Lyon, France, and his family moved to New York City when he was eight years old for his father's work. Apparently his father had recently retired from his job, and his family moved to South Park for reasons of finding a quieter, more peaceful place to live. Hah… how wrong they were about thinking South Park was 'quiet' and 'peaceful'.

"South Park really is a cute little town, although I don't know where _anything_ is right now… Maybe you could give me a tour of the town after school Kyle?" Adrian spoke in a confident tone, shifting his attention from Wendy to Kyle, who appeared mildly annoyed by this.

"Oh, well, I would, but I already have plans to hang out with Stan after school," Kyle responded, glancing in my direction as if looking for confirmation.

Shit. I forgot to tell Kyle that I wouldn't be able to hang out with him tonight. Oh no. He is not going to be happy.

A part of me wanted to just disregard my plans with Wendy and hang out with Kyle as was originally planned, if not just for the reason of keeping him away from this Adrian guy. But… I couldn't back out on her now… she would be mad, and I also didn't want to miss out on the chance to be alone with her with no parents. These were like once in a month opportunities!

"Stan? I thought you were coming over to my place after school?" Wendy interjected before I had a chance to respond.

"I, uh, yeah, I am," I responded, unintentionally stumbling over my words. There's no way to put this without making Kyle mad. "Sorry Kyle, I don't think I'll be able to today." I looked at him with sincerity, in hopes that it would quell any irritation that may arise from this.

"But…" He began to speak, but stopped and simply sighed, shaking his head. "Never mind, its fine. I hope you have fun," he spoke again with obvious disdain.

He was upset, it was obvious as the fact that dogs bark, and it made me feel bad. It always did, this isn't the first time something like this has happened, unfortunately. It was often difficult to balance my best friend and my girlfriend. Yet, this time, it bothered me even more. Mostly because…

"Oh good, then you _are _free to show me around town," Adrian said, grinning gleefully at Kyle.

"Yeah… I guess I am," Kyle responded somewhat dismally, staring down at his half eaten lunch.

Yeah, that's why it bothered me more.

I glanced quickly around the table, hoping that _someone _would save Kyle from this when I couldn't. Cartman remained silent, observing the scene with an amused expression as he inhaled the remainder of his lunch. Asshole, of course he wouldn't even lift a finger to help Kyle. Everyone at the other end of the table was too busy conversing with each other to even pay attention to what was going on – save for Craig, who was still watching us with a bored, uninterested expression as was typical of him, but he made no motion to help either. So much for him being Kyle's 'friend'. Thankfully, Kenny picked up on my somewhat obvious desperation and came to the rescue.

"Ooo, a tour of our wonderful little mountain town? I can't miss out on that!" Kenny interjected, his trademark cocky grin plastered on his face. "Kyle does know the town pretty well, but I can show you places even he's never seen before," he winked at Adrian. "Special places."

I finally exhaled the bulk of air I was holding in, breathing a sigh of relief. Thank god for Kenny. It wasn't necessarily a lie on his part either, due to his less than pleasant home life he often spends most of his time just walking around town. Not to mention all the places he claims to bring girls for some 'private time'. I'm sure he knows all the nooks and crannies by now.

"Yeah, Kenny knows the town better than any of us," Kyle added on. He was still clearly irritated, but he seemed to calm slightly at the news that Kenny would be joining him.

Adrian on the other hand appeared rather disappointed at this, something that happened to make me quite pleased. The prospect of thwarting his 'plans', whatever they were, was rather satisfying to me.

"That sounds great," he spoke through his teeth, his tone noticeably less elated than before.

Kenny simply grinned, standing up to throw the remains of what little lunch he had in the garbage. As if he was anticipating it, the bell indicating the end of lunch rang as he did so.

"Whelp, time for class, see you guys later," Kenny spoke, casually saluting a goodbye to the group before heading out of the cafeteria.

I stared down at my own lunch, which I had barely touched. Between being annoyed at Cartman, being annoyed by this Adrian and trying to juggle Kyle and Wendy, I hadn't even given myself a chance to eat. Oh well, I wasn't that hungry anyways.

"Well… See you later Stan, I hope you and Wendy have fun tonight," Kyle spoke with no real sincerity.

Apparently Kenny cheering him up by saving him from Adrian was only temporary. I guess it was too much to ask for that he wouldn't still be mad at me for ditching him for Wendy. I'm sorry Kyle, I'm really sorry...

I watched as he left the table and headed to class, a class that we happened to attend together and typically walked to together. Well shit, I guess he really is upset this time. The brief feeling of relief I had was gone as quickly as it came, an uncomfortable feeling twisting in my stomach. There wasn't much I hated more than making Kyle upset, even if it was unavoidable at times.

Adrian got up and moved to follow him, offering me a sidelong glance as he did so, the corner of his mouth quirking into a grin that almost made me want to punch him – if not just to wipe it off his face.

Aside from his blatant and obnoxious flirting with Kyle, who's not even _gay_, I really do not know what put me off on this guy so much. Just something about his mannerisms, his voice, the way he talked, everything… I do. Not. Like. Him. Not one bit.

Today has not been my day, between this Adrian guy and upsetting Kyle, it really has not been in my favor.

Sex with Wendy tonight had better be amazing to make up for this shit.

…

_To be continued_

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**A/N: Please let me know what you think! I love hearing your thoughts!**


	3. Nothing Has Changed

**A/N: Thank you so much to all of you who have reviewed/favorite/followed, I really appreciate all the feedback! Unfortunately, I've been busy lately and haven't had much time to write, thus the very late update, but I do plan to see this story through to the end (Right now, it looks as though it will be about 16-17 chapters unless I end up changing things in the current outline, so we have a lot of plot to go!). Anyways, I hope you guys enjoy this chapter!**

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**Best Friends Forever**

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Chapter 3

_Nothing Has Changed_

..

.

I nervously raked my hand through my hair as I approached the bus stop, my heart rate considerably higher than it would be on a normal day. I don't regret my decision to go to Wendy's last night instead of hanging out with Kyle, she's my girlfriend, she should always take priority AND the sex was quite amazing. However, it took no measure of genius to tell that Kyle was more upset than he normally was about this fact. Passive aggressiveness wasn't typically his thing, but he sure was playing the 'let's ignore Stan' game something fierce last night.

At the risk of coming off like a clingy girlfriend, I sent Kyle a total of four texts yesterday throughout the day after school.

The first one was my own attempt at humor, sardonically wishing him luck with Adrian and promising that we would hang out another day. No response

The second was my own reaction to him failing to respond to the first one, apologizing for blowing him off in favor of Wendy and again promising to make it up to him. Still no response.

The third was sent later that evening when Wendy wasn't in the room, asking if he had gotten the first two texts I had sent him. Yet again, I got nothing back.

By the time I sent the fourth one, it was late that evening and I was starting to worry a bit myself. Kyle normally responds to texts from me within seconds after they were sent, save for the ones that were sent when we were both in school. This was abnormal to say the least, so I sent him another text asking him if he was okay. After all, he had gone off with that guy Adrian, who was already obviously obsessed to some degree with him. For all I know, he could have been gagged and chained in his basement by now!

He didn't respond to that one either, but any insane worry of him having been kidnapped by that annoying bastard Adrian was quickly dashed when I spotted his familiar figure, green hat and all, standing alone at the bus stop. I guess he really was just mad, not that it was any huge surprise.

Well, what do best friends do when they anger or disappoint each other? Apologize. It's not like this is the first time Kyle has gotten angry at me for something, and I've definitely been upset with him before. Doesn't change the fact that we care about each other as friends and are always able to forgive each other, our friendship would not have lasted as long as it has had that not been the case.

I sighed, tucking my hands in the pockets of my sweatshirt and approached him. "Hey dude," I greeted, mustering my best friendly smile.

He didn't look up at me, but I saw his eyebrows crease into a subtle scowl. Yep, he's definitely still mad. "Hey," he stoically replied after a moment of silence.

I sighed once again, removing my hand from my pocket and placing it on his shoulder in attempt to offer some form of amicability, noticing that he tensed slightly in response. "Look, Kyle, I'm-"

"Sup faggots," the lazy, dictating voice of Cartman interrupted. Of course, it had to be him. He approached us, glancing in-between the two of us before grinning. "Aww, am I interrupting something?"

Kyle simply closed his eyes- which I knew well enough by now indicated annoyance for him, exhaling a bulk of air through his teeth. No retort though, which was definitely unusual when Cartman was involved. I _did _feel bad about simultaneously leaving him with Adrian and ditching him for Wendy, but I didn't think it would bother him this much. I'll find time to talk to him later when there's less… company.

I glared at Cartman, removing my hand from Kyle's shoulder. "Cartman shut the fuck up, no one wants to hear it."

"Whoa, hey, if you two want to go make out be my guest, just don't do it in front of me," Cartman spoke casually, that arrogant grin of his still plastered on his face as he moved to stand next to Kyle. "So Jew," Cartman nudged Kyle's side. "How was your little date with _Adriaaan_," he drawled out the male's name.

Both Kyle and I narrowed our eyes at Cartman, and Kyle's cheeks also turned a noticeable shade of pink at this. I admit though, I was also curious as to how that went. "It wasn't a date, fatass. I was showing him around town," Kyle retorted with an obvious eye roll.

"-And we had a _ton _of fun," Kenny chimed as he approached the group, moving to stand next to me. "I even introduced him to that bum that sells weed near the storage units… don't think he was that interested though," he continued in a nonchalantly. "He showed us his house though, and let me tell you that guy's family is rich as fuck. Kyle here was even lucky enough to get an invitation to dinner, although I don't think that invitation extended to me. I'm so sad!" he finished in a mock pout.

I clenched my jaw at the prospect of Kyle already being invited over to this guy's house. His flirting was already blatant enough yesterday, I can't believe he thought he was at the point where he could introduce his obvious love interest to his family now. Quite frankly, I'm surprised his family would be so accepting of such a thing. You hear stories all the time of parents kicking their children out for being gay. I guess this Adrian guy was one of the lucky ones… on top of being rich too! Lucky, lucky bastard. I guess that would explain the designer clothing and styled hair, and Cartman did mention he lived next to Token. It certainly didn't cure my dislike of him; in fact it made me dislike him even a bit more. The bastard has probably never had to work for a thing in his life, and will likely have his entire college education fed to him on a silver spoon while the rest of us have to go tens of thousands of dollars in debt.

"Ooo lucky you Jew, you could bag yourself a sugar daddy," Cartman jeered tauntingly.

"'Sugar Daddy' is when a younger woman dates an older man for his money, it's not the same thing you stupid fatass," Kyle bit out irritably, brows creased into a rather nasty glare. "Besides, I already said it's not like that. Adrian has no friends in South Park yet, he's just being nice."

"Did you go? To his house I mean," I blurted out.

Kyle looked in my direction and paused for a moment before responding with a sigh. "No, I didn't."

Thank. God.

Before anything else was said, the bus arrived and the driver quickly ushered us all to get on. Kyle and I typically sat together on the bus ride over, but today, he walked right past me and took his seat behind Cartman. Kenny, who got on the bus last, glanced briefly at Kyle before shrugging and plopping down in the seat next to me.

"He's pretty pissed you know. About the whole thing with Wendy I mean," Kenny said quietly to me after the bus began to move.

I sighed; yeah, that he is. "I know dude, but what was I supposed to do? I can't exactly say no to Wendy just so I can hang out with a friend. She's my girlfriend."

Kenny shrugged again, humming quietly. "Bros before hoes, that's what I say. But then again, I don't do what you and Wendy have been doing for what? Seven years now?"

"Yeah… going on eight now. I would have thought he would be used to me putting her first by now, it's not like this is the first time this has happened," I replied. I_ was _pretty used to Kyle getting angry at me for ditching him for Wendy, but this whole passive aggressive thing he's doing today makes patching things up even more difficult.

"Well, could just maaaybe have something to do with the fact that the side of effect of that yesterday involved leaving him stuck with a gay guy that obviously wants to get in his pants," Kenny replied with a shrug.

"Yeah, but-" I huffed out a puff of air in minor annoyance. "He could have said _no_. It's not like me not hanging out with him forced him spend the day with that asshole."

Kenny leaned back in his seat, casually folding his arms behind his head. "Yeah, well, you know Kyle. He'd never purposefully hurt someone's feelings like that; even if it involved doing something he didn't really want to do." He responded. It's true. Despite his short temper and lack of patience, Kyle is ultimately a very kind-hearted person. He'd do anything to help others, even people he didn't like. I still remember the time he almost drowned when trying to save Cartman's life. "Look dude, just apologize. We both know your friendship has endured much worse; after all, haven't you two been _super _best friends longer than you and Wendy have been dating?"

Yep, Kyle and I have been best friends since we were in preschool… almost twice as long as Wendy and I have been dating. Wow… I honestly didn't think about how long it has really been until just now. "Yeah, I plan to. It's just frustrating," I replied, raking my hand through my hair in agitation.

Kenny offered me a crooked grin. "I'm sure; maintaining relationships is hard isn't it? That's why I don't do them," he responded jokingly, clearly trying to make the situation more lighthearted. "Things will be fine though. Oh, and later, when stuff isn't all emotional, I gotta tell you about Red because _man _she was a minx."

I laughed lightly at this; of course Kenny would want to share _all_ the details about his sexual escapades. It's not entirely true that Kenny doesn't maintain relationships – maybe not romantic ones, but he's friendly with well, just about everyone. He's probably the only person in the school that is universally liked. Although it is true that he doesn't have any especially close friendships. I was probably Kenny's closest friend, and we only started becoming closer because we just so happened to be the first two males in the school to lose our V-cards.

"I look forward to it," I responded with some amusement.

The bus finally arrived at the school, and the driver ushered us off just as quickly as he encouraged us to get on. I stared at the back of Kyle's head as I followed him off the bus, noticing the few lose strands of curly red hair that peaked out from underneath his hat. Now is as good of time as any to talk to him I suppose.

I took a moment to text Wendy upon getting off the bus, telling her that I wouldn't be able to meet her this morning. I promptly got back a sad-faced emoticon in response, but it seemed as though she understood. I found myself bristling slightly when I looked up and saw the familiar smug face of Adrian, a wide smile plastered on his face as he eagerly waved Kyle in his direction. I scowled at him before hurriedly moving to tap Kyle on his shoulder in attempt to get is attention. "Can I talk to you for a moment?" I asked when he turned towards me.

His red brows creased into a subtle glare in response. "I figured you'd rather talk with Wendy. Isn't that what you always do in the mornings?" He bit out with disdain.

I exhaled a bulk of air through my teeth in minor annoyance. I wish he would just listen to me. "Look, just come with me for a moment and I'll explain."

He rolled his eyes – that same characteristic eye roll of his that was typically reserved for Cartman. "Fine."

I grabbed him by the wrist, not caring if the action appeared odd to any onlookers, and quietly led him around behind the school. I spared a glance back at Adrian, finding myself quite satisfied that that he now appeared thoroughly annoyed, an irritated scowl now in place of that shit-eating grin he was wearing before.

Upon reaching our destination, I released my grasp on Kyle's wrist. He leaned back against the brick wall of the school, defensively crossing his arms over his chest. "So, what did you want to talk about?" He asked, his tone guarded.

I sighed, awkwardly kicking a clump of snow near my feet. "I figured you would have guessed," I replied. "I wanted to apologize for ditching you for Wendy yesterday. That was a dick move on my part."

Kyle stared at me for a moment before shaking his head and exhaling harshly. "But this isn't the first time you've done that. This happens all the time Stan!" He retorted, rising anger flickering in his eyes. "It would be much easier to accept your apology if I knew that it wasn't going to just happen again!"

"Well I mean, dude, she is my girlfriend and all," I blurted out. I was a bit taken aback by his negative response; his short temper is no surprise, but it's so rarely directed at me. "Look, I'm sorry, but I don't always have a choice."

"Yes you do! You could just tell her that you already made plans with me!" Kyle exclaimed, his temper quickly escalating. "Wendy is a reasonable person, I'm sure she would understand."

It's true, Wendy is for the most part a highly reasonable person. Based on what I've observed from other relationships, she's definitely less clingy than most. But even she occasionally displays a spark of jealousy, and oddly enough it's often towards Kyle. I don't know how she'd react to me denying an offered night of sex with her in favor of playing video games with Kyle.

"Yeah… she is, but last night her parents weren't home, and I couldn't-"

"So basically, you're telling me you ditched me just so you could get your dick wet." Kyle interrupted, an annoyed sigh escaping through his teeth.

"Well, yeah, like I said, I didn't have a choice dude," I responded defensively; why does he seem so upset the fact that I had sex? "Besides, I thought friends were _supposed to be happy _for each other when the other gets laid."

"Yeah, well, I'm not Kenny. There are more important things in life than 'getting laid'." Kyle retorted. "I'm sick of being secondary to Wendy. It's not fair _to me_ to make plans with me, and then go back on them in favor of _Wendy,_" he spoke her name with spite.

I sighed, pinching the bridge of my nose. Why can't he just understand? I suppose he wouldn't being a virgin, and never having had a serious girlfriend. I'm sure it is frustrating for him that I ditched him, but that's why I'm apologizing now. I just wish he understood my point of view better.

"Dude, I don't know what else to say – I'm _sorry_. I'll make it up to you, how about we hang out tonight instead?" I offered.

He stared at me, crossing his arms defensively. "I can't tonight, I already have plans. You'd probably just ditch me again for Wendy anyways." His sarcasm was clear as day in that last remark.

Simultaneously I felt my face heat up in slight anger and a pang of hurt cascade through my chest. What right does he have to make that assumption? Does he really think that I would just up and ditch him again? Also, what plans could he possibly have made without me?

"I wouldn't do that again dude," I breathed out in frustration. "Who do you have plans with anyways?"

"Adrian," He replied simply, and I felt my stomach sink.

"What?! Seriously? You're going to hang out with _him_? Alone? Why?" I ungracefully sputtered out everything that was running through my head. Why the _fuck _would he want to hang out with Adrian alone? I thought he seemed _uncomfortable _around Adrian just yesterday. This makes no sense.

Kyle simply shrugged. "He's nice."

_Yeah_. Because he wants to get in your pants.

I know Kyle doesn't always pick up on romantic cues very well – the whole Bebe incident made that plainly obvious. But Adrian was being much, _much _more obvious than Bebe ever was. I would have figured that Adrian's rumored homosexuality and obvious remarks would have been enough to cue Kyle in on his intentions… apparently not.

_Or _maybe Kyle likes it, and actually wants this. I felt sickened just thinking about it. The very thought of Kyle and Adrian…. Ugh, it just makes me shudder. But Cartman, as much of an idiot as he is, did have a point… Kyle has never had a girlfriend, or shown much interest in girls. Maybe he is…. No, no that's ridiculous. Kyle just hasn't found the right girl yet. Yeah. That's it.

I stood there, dumbfounded, while Kyle moved to speak again. "He invited me over to have dinner with him and his family. He's a bit weird, I'll admit that, but he seems nice enough and I figured it was a good thing for me to make some new friends, so why not."

"_Yeah_ that's because… because…" Kyle is one of the smartest kids in the school, I can't believe he's not picking up on what Adrian really wants. I wanted to tell him, but I couldn't seem to form the words. How do you tell your male friend that another male is hitting on him without seeming weird? "I don't think he's a good person for you to associate with," I finally said.

Kyle visibly bristled at this. "_Why?_ Because he's not you? I can handle myself Stan, and I can have other friends that aren't you."

"That's not what-"

"No, it is what you meant!" Kyle interrupted me. I flinched, slightly taken aback at harshness of his tone. "I have been nothing but supportive of your relationship with Wendy for the past seven years, even though it meant we didn't get to hang out as often. I didn't complain when you fucked her for the first time, and then decided to start hanging out with Kenny more without me in your own little, exclusive 'guys who have lost their V-card' club. But _you_, whenever _I _start making new friends, you _never _approve."

I simply stood there, mute, letting him yell at me. I didn't really know what to say. I wanted to disagree, but thinking back on it, he is sort of right. I never have liked Kyle's _other _friends. But Kyle always tries to hang out with people who are obviously bad news, so of course I wouldn't like that he hangs out with them.

His face was almost as red as his hair, heated from his rising anger. "When I started taking karate and became friends with Craig there, you complained. When I started hanging out with Cartman more, since he was the only one left in our group who wasn't constantly occupied with some girl, you disapproved too! Why? Why is it such a bad thing for me to have other friends?!"

I huffed out a breath of air in annoyance, pushing my hair back with my hand. Isn't it obvious why I would disapprove of them? "_Cartman _is an _asshole_. You of all people should realize this. Why would you want to hang out with someone who constantly insults you? I thought you hated him! And Craig is a bully! Don't you remember when he beat you up in grade school just because you wouldn't go along with that stupid metrosexual fad?"

"As I'm beginning to realize, people change. And not everyone for the better," he replied scathingly.

And it hurt, that comment hurt, because I know it was directed towards me. I wasn't purposefully trying to make him feel this way; I never purposefully tried to ignore him in favor of Wendy or Kenny. Despite the fact that Wendy his my girlfriend, and despite the fact that Kenny is the only other I can openly talk about sex with, Kyle is still my best friend. That hasn't changed since grade school.

I _care _about him as a friend. He deserves to be hanging out with better people. Not someone like Cartman who constantly insults him. Not someone like Craig who would bully him. And definitely not someone like Adrian who just wants to use him for sex.

The bell rang indicating that it was time for everyone to start heading to their respective classes. Kyle stared at me for a moment, the anger still flashing in his eyes, but I could see that there was a bit of hurt mixed in there as well. I could always notice those things with Kyle. "I'll talk to you later Stan," he bit out before turning on his heel and speeding away.

"Fuck," I muttered under my breath as soon as Kyle was out of sight, violently kicking a clump of snow at the brick wall of the school building.

I stood there, staring at the splattered specks of white where the snow hit the wall. I didn't know what to feel. I was angry that he was making assumptions about me, and hurt for that very same reason; and, dare I say, I was jealous that he would rather hang out with other people than me. _Specifically_ that asshole Adrian. Why him of all people?

He's wrong, I haven't changed. I'm still the same person. I'm still his best friend. Regardless my love life, or who else might be might friend as well, that will never change.

I just wish he would realize that.

…

Well, the rest of the day was shitty to say the least.

Sure, Kyle and I haven't been on the best of terms lately, but I don't remember the last time we had an argument this bad. It hurts. Probably more than it should. I sighed, leaning back on the cushioned leather seat of the bench press machine and tightly gripping the metal bar.

Could be worse I suppose. At least it's not leg day.

"Man, with how you've been moping around lately, I'm never going to get to update you on my adventures with lil' ol' Red." Kenny stared down at me, his slightly matted blonde bangs drooping into his eyes as he acted as my spotter, half-assed as the effort may be.

I grunted as I pushed the bar off of its hinges and carefully lowered it to my chest, opting to ignore Kenny's remark. I couldn't care less about his sexcapades with Red right now.

"You could at least give me the Wendy details from last night," Kenny spoke again, pausing for a moment before letting out a childish huff. "C'mon dude, this is supposed to be our time to share sex stories together!"

I exhaled harshly as I once again pushed the weighted bar up off of my chest, resisting the urge to throw it at Kenny, who was still awkwardly leaning over top of me. He hasn't done anything wrong, it'd be silly of me to take out my frustrations on him, but god damn I wish he would shut up. I don't want to talk about fucking sex right now.

I kind of regret inviting him to come work out with me now. He had mentioned wanting to 'bulk up' more, so being the normally nice guy I am, I invited him to come along when I go to the weight room after school. In a completely non-homosexual way, Kenny is definitely a good looking guy, but he doesn't have much in terms of muscle. He's probably the skinniest one of our group of friends, so it certainly wouldn't hurt him to come gain a little bit.

I should've guessed he would just see it as a social call to gossip about sex and porn and boobs and whatever else dirty is going through that nasty mind of his at the time – Which I normally wouldn't mind quite honestly, but with all the shit that's going on with Kyle, I'm just not into it today.

Kenny sighed, standing up straight and firmly placing his hands on his hips. "Okay fine, do you want to talk about Kyle? I can tell that you guys are still pissed at each other."

I grunted again, hoisting the bar back onto its hinges as I finished my last repetition before sitting up, grabbing a nearby towel to wipe the forming beads of sweat off of my forehead. I wouldn't necessarily say that 'pissed at each other' is the right term to use, more like Kyle is pissed at me and I'm frustrated with the fact that he's pissed at me. I'm sure the fact that Kyle's still mad at me was a dead giveaway for Kenny when we saw him in the locker room. He certainly shot me a nasty glare before he left with that fucking asshole Craig for karate.

"There's nothing really to say. Apologizing didn't work, he's still pissed at me," I replied with indifference, exhaling a bulk of air and hoisting myself up from the bench. "I'm sure he'll get over it." Honestly, I didn't feel like talking about Kyle right now either. "Anyways, it's your turn."

"Whatever dude, just seemed like it was bothering you. Either way, I'm here if you want to talk about it," Kenny replied before moving to take my place on the bench. "Okay, how do we do this?"

I chuckled lightly at this. I do have to admire Kenny's ability to know when to not push on sensitive subjects. "Well, this is your first time bench pressing, so let's start light. The bar itself is almost 40, so maybe 10 or 20 extra pounds?"

"Wha? I can do more than that! I'm sure I can at least do almost as much as you," Kenny replied with a childish whine, reminding me vaguely of Kyle's younger brother for a moment. "C'mon at least let me try."

I shrugged. Worst that can happen is he drops it on his neck and I have to rescue him. "Alright dude, go for it. I'll spot you."

"Alright!" Kenny stretched out his knuckles, causing them to emit a harsh cracking sound. "You might be the star football player. But _I'm_ the true biggest player in the school." He flashed me a cocky grin before leaning back and firmly placing his hands on the bar. "Watch and be amazed."

I held back a laugh as he began to push the bar off of the hinges, emitting a harsh grunt and his face visibly straining. I admit, I had little faith in him being successful - newbies normally can't do this much unless they are already really athletic, but he was able to successfully push it up. He began to lower it to his chest, he's actually doing alright, maybe he can –

"Whoa!" My hands shot forward, grabbing the bar just before it hit his neck. He reached his threshold and down it went. "Told you you should start lighter," I reprimanded as I placed the bar back on its hinges.

"Yeah, whatever, we can't all be muscle-bound football players like _you,_" Kenny huffed out indignantly as he sat back up. "All right, give me the 20 pounds."

I chuckled, a smile twinging at the corner of my mouth. "Probably the better choice." Kenny is ridiculous sometimes, at least this is taking my mind off of the whole mess with Kyle.

"Okay, round 2!" Kenny exclaimed after we finished removing the excess weight, laying back down and clutching the now-lighter bar.

"Careful!" I managed between a huff of laughter as Kenny ungracefully shoved the bar off of the hinges. "It's a better workout if you go slow."

"Yeah, yeah I got it," Kenny replied in an overly confident tone, failing to slow down his pace at all.

I simply snorted in response, opting not to correct his poor form. At least he can actually lift this one.

I jumped slightly as I heard the door to the weight room creak open, feeling the atmosphere change as another entered the room. I felt my face drop as soon as I looked up to see who it was… pretty much the last person I wanted to see right now.

"Oh, pardon me," Adrian drawled out in an overly polite tone, his accent thick. "I didn't expect anyone else to be in here."

And just when my mood was starting to improve too.

"Yeah, we come here almost every day after school." I forced an awkward smile, finding it increasingly difficult to look him in the eyes without feeling the overwhelming urge to punch him in the face.

"I was pleasantly surprised to find this school had a weight room that was open to students," Adrian spoke, rubbing the curve of one of the weights in an almost affectionate fashion. "Certainly was not expecting it considering how poor this school appears to be."

"Surprised you don't have your own weight room at that huge house of yours," Kenny piped in, sitting up and grinning.

"Ah, well you'd think, but my parents decided that that was _not _at the top of their priority when looking for a house, unfortunately for me," Adrian shrugged. "They wouldn't be in town often enough to use it anyways, even if we did have one."

"Huh, that must be hard for you," Kenny replied with subtle sarcasm – Adrian may not be able to pick up on it, but I certainly could. Kenny never did like it when rich people flaunted their expensive shit in front of him.

"Hmm, yes…" Adrian replied in a cautious tone… Maybe he did pick up on it. "So, why isn't Kyle here too?" Adrian continued after a long pause. "I thought you guys were… friends?"

I felt my body tense at the mention of Kyle's name. I didn't feel like talking about what happened with him to _Kenny_, so there's no way I want to talk about him with this asshole. "He has an after school activity he attends," I forced out awkwardly.

"Oh really? He did not mention this," Adrian replied, quirking a single eyebrow. "What activity? I may have to check it out."

"It's karate," I bit out begrudgingly through gritted teeth after a short pause.

I was half tempted to lie, but at the same time, the prospect of Adrian possibly getting beaten to a pulp by the others in the club was oddly satisfying. He certainly doesn't look like he could win any fights.

Adrian made a quiet humming sound before responding. "I will definitely have to check into this, but for now I'm here and I want to test out this weight room. Can't allow myself to start getting flabby."

Kenny stood up from the bench press machine and Adrian moved to take his place, adding more weight to the bar before laying down and clutching it. "Would one of you mind spotting me?" He asked, accent thick as ever, peering up at us from under the bar.

Ugh. Who invited him to work out with us?

I glanced at Kenny, who held up his hands in defense. "Gotta be you man, I think it was already proven I can't lift that much." He paused for a moment, glancing around. "I'm gonna go over here and check out that leg machine," he finished, pointing with his thumb towards a leg press machine at the other side of the room.

He offered me a sympathetic smile before walking away, prompting scowl from me. Why on earth did I even let him spot me if he can't even lift what Adrian is benching? I sighed, turning to face the bench.

"Going to be you then? …. Stan, is it?" Adrian asked.

"Yep. Go for it," I responded shortly.

Although I can't 100% guarantee I won't let him suffocate if that bar falls on his neck.

I watched him lift the bar and lower it to his chest with relative ease. I do have to admit, he does have some tone. Doesn't make him any less of an annoying asshole though.

And at least I can still bench more than him.

…

_To Be Continued…_


	4. Something Special

**A/N: Yes, I'm sorry, it's been so long since I've updated. Been busy with school and work, and other fandoms have been distracting lately. I am determined to finish this story though! So thank you to those who have been sticking with me, and of course, thanks to everyone who has reviewed/favorited/followed and even you silent lurkers that don't say anything. I do appreciate it! This chapter is a bit short… only about 3,000 words, but the next one will be pretty long, so it makes up for it!**

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**Best Friends Forever**

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Chapter 4

_Something Special  
_

..

.

It has been a week.

An _entire _week, and Kyle still hasn't said more to me than meaningless, short answers that bare no value in response to anything that I've said to him. Like a bagger asking if you want paper or plastic at the store, and you giving no more than a monotonous, short answer in response. Not that you would expect an elaborate, friendly answer in that situation, but that's the point, Kyle and I are more than just that – fighting or not, I'm still his friend, he should at least treat me like I matter to him _just a little._

But I suppose that's too much to ask right now. He's still mad at me and I feel like shit because of it.

I stared at him in the school courtyard, his green hat and the fiery red hair poking out from underneath it making him stand out like a beacon. He was there, chatting quite happily amongst a group of people – Adrian, Cartman, Butters, Craig, Token, some other kid I don't remember the name of – his _other _friends I suppose, since I was apparently so _different _now.

I felt my face burn and my stomach twist in mild anger as I watched Adrian affectionately place his hand on Kyle's shoulder – a gesture Kyle did not pull away from. Instead, he laughed amicably at something that blonde asshole had said. Why is he acting that way? Kyle should not be hanging around that guy, he's _nothing _but bad news. I may have made a lot of mistakes in my wording the last couple of weeks, but I was right about that at least.

"Why don't you just try talking to him?"

I snapped my eyes away from Kyle to fixate on the light, cerulean ones of Wendy, her brows tilted in a look of concern as she stared back at me.

"You don't think I've already tried that?" I responded, far more snidely than I had intended. I'm not trying to take out my frustrations on her, but this whole situation is just so… frustrating.

She glared at me momentarily in response before her expression softened and she sighed, moving her hands to fumble with the mismatched buttons on my jacket. I probably did look like a mess this morning, I wasn't taking as good of care of myself as I normally did… "I know you have." She mumbled as she absentmindedly re-buttoned my jacket. "Don't take it out on _me_ though, I'm trying to help."

I simply groaned, pinching the bridge of my nose in frustration. "I know, I'm sorry. I don't mean to be acting like a dick towards you Wendy. I'm just frustrated, Kyle and I never fight like this."

"It's alright, I feel the same way when Bebe and I fight." She patted my chest as she finished her work, tilting her head upward to meet my gaze and smiling sweetly. "It's been a week right? Maybe he's calmed down a bit since then, it can't hurt to try again."

Perhaps she's right. As much as I hate to agree with Cartman, he's not always too far off when calling Kyle a 'PMSing girl'… Not that I think Kyle's a girl or anything, but he certainly has a temper like one on their period. Now that I think about it, it generally does take Kyle a week or two to calm down when he gets amped up about something. Maybe he is over it now… I heaved a sigh. "Alright, alright, I'll give it a shot."

"Good." She nodded at me, affectionately rubbing my arm. "I admit, I'm not always happy with the amount of time you and Kyle spend together. But, you're his best friend, and there's something special about those kind of relationships."

Right, something special. It's true though, there's no one else I would have wanted to spend my childhood growing up with.

…

"Dude, so Red… man, she's amazing dude!" Kenny spouted out, his words practically laced with sexual excitement… That whore. "I've never met a girl that can go as many rounds as her. And the way she sucks dick, oh man I could watch her all day!"

This has to have been at least the fifth time this week I've heard Kenny ramble on about Red. I can't say I've ever seen Kenny be this into a girl before… it was weird.

"Shut the fuck up Kinny, you poor piece of shit," Cartman suddenly snapped at him, his brows creased into an annoyed scowl and face tinted red. "No one wants to hear about how many diseases you've picked up."

Kenny's eyes flashed with daring amusement as he looked towards Cartman, his expression taunting. "What's wrong? Jealous you're still a virgin and I'm not?"

"I'm not a virgin." Cartman spoke quickly, although the way his eyes quickly darted away easily showed that he was lying. "I get laid way more times than you guys, you just haven't seen my girlfriend cause' she's online."

"Oh, I see. She's riding your virtual dick on a daily basis then?" Kenny egged on, a smirk firmly plastered on his face and Cartman's face flushed deeper in agitation. "I can't say that sounds as fun as the real deal."

I chose to stay out of this one, like always – whether it be Kenny vs. Cartman, Kyle vs. Cartman, or hell, anyone vs. Cartman. It was such a common thing. The sounds of shuffling and talking in the hallways during passing period easily drowned out Cartman's heated response… not that I was paying much attention anyways. I found myself distracted when I finally spotted Kyle in the hallways, his bright green ushanka hat plainly visible amongst the masses of people. I felt my brows crease into a scowl when I realized that he was chatting with Adrian, who was playing himself off as if he was some movie Romeo like a fucking douchebag.

Kyle was standing with his back against the lockers, casually leaning against the metal and clutching his books to his chest as Adrian loomed over him, his blonde hair dangling loosely in his face. He was leaning against the lockers with his elbow in a way that reminded me of what those cocky guys in movies do when they're trying to hit on a girl. I felt a shiver run down my body in disgust on seeing him acting this way to Kyle. And, it bothered me even more that Kyle didn't appear uncomfortable in the slightest, he appeared relaxed and his lips were curled into a content smile. I don't get it. Why was someone as bold as Kyle tolerating this?

Either way, I needed to talk to Kyle anyways… and I wasn't about to let some rich, foreign asshole take advantage of my best friend. "I'll see you guys later." I mumbled to Kenny and Cartman, who were still bickering, as I began to make a beeline towards Kyle.

I could have sworn I heard Cartman make his usual jeer about me 'needing to make up with my girlfriend' as I walked away, but I didn't give a shit. It was just Cartman. I strode up to where Kyle was standing with determination, and I saw his expression crease into a scowl when he noticed my approach… and it hurt to see that, more than it probably should have.

"Stan…" Kyle began, his tone warning and posture instantly becoming stiff and defensive. Is he really still that mad at me?

Adrian turned to face me as well, his lips curling into a falsely friendly smile that I could see right through. "Hi Stan." He greeted in mock cheerfulness, his accent coating his voice. "Thank you again for helping me in the gym the other day, I do appreciate it. I was just talking to Kyle about his karate practice, and my it does sound fun! He was even nice enough to invite me, isn't that just wonderful?"

"Right… that's great…" I couldn't hide the scowl that formed on my face at this, it was hard enough to hold back the growing urge to punch this pompous asshole square in his pretty little face. "I actually was hoping to talk to Kyle alone. Could you give us a moment?"

I felt Kyle stiffen up next to me at this and Adrian quirked an eyebrow at me. "Oh? Alone you say? How interesting…" Adrian replied, his tone was almost taunting. "Well who am I to intrude on your… relationship. I will leave you two wonderful people to it." He smirked at me before glancing at Kyle and winking. "I will see you later Kyle."

"See ya…" Kyle mumbled out as the blonde began to walk away - well, more like swaggered away. That fucking pompous asshole, he just did everything that was humanly possible to get under my skin. The moment he was out of earshot, Kyle's eyes flashed dangerously at me, his stance firm and defensive. "What do you want Stan?" He bit out.

"I…" I began, uncomfortably rubbing the back of my head. I didn't quite know where to start. I let out a sigh. "Listen Kyle, those things I said to you last week and all the shit I did last week… I'm sorry. I wasn't thinking straight and I shouldn't have acted like such a dick to you."

Kyle simply stared at me for a moment, his brows creased into a scowl and anger shone briefly in his eyes before his expression suddenly began to soften and he let out a loud, aggravated sigh. "I'm sorry too…" He mumbled quietly. "I want to be mad at you because this shit keeps happening with you, but I can't stay that way. You're my best friend… you mean a lot to me."

I felt my stomach do a slight flutter at this, and I didn't quite understand it, but I did feel happy. I mean a lot to him… well, I suppose I should, I am his best friend after all… he means a lot to me too.

"I just… it frustrates me with how things have changed from when we were kids." Kyle continued, shuffling uncomfortably. "I mean, you've become well, _you_. Stan Marsh, the popular, good-looking star football player of South Park High. Everyone fucking loves you. And I'm just your nerdy best friend that Wendy thinks is trying to steal away you away from her."

Good looking? I don't know why – because yeah, people often told me I was attractive – but it felt strangely satisfying to hear it come from Kyle's mouth.

"That's not true," I stated matter of factly in response. "You're practically the smartest person in the school, and I fucking know you could take me down in a fight. Don't sell yourself short, dude." Kyle smiled lightly at my compliments, and I swore I saw a small blush creep onto his face. Maybe it was just my imagination. "Want to come over and hang out tonight?" I offered.

"What about Wendy?" Kyle quickly asked.

"She said she wanted to spend some time with Bebe and the other girls tonight," I responded, shrugging nonchalantly. "I could really use some help with my Algebra homework too, I don't get it at all."

Kyle stood there silently for a moment, seemingly pondering my offer. His posturing had relaxed considerably though, thank god for that. It was fucking awkward to see Kyle appear uncomfortable around me. "Okay, sure."

"Great!" I beamed at him. "I'll text ya later, okay dude?"

…

"So you divide by 316 on both sides to isolate the X, and then you times by 4, and then…" Fuck, I hate algebra… just math in general, it tedious and it's not useful. Not to mention Mr. Garrison _sucks _at teaching it. "You know what, fuck it," I exclaimed, throwing down my pencil. "I don't get it."

Kyle simply laughed at me. "It's not hard, you almost got it," he began, pointing at the paper. "Look, you just need to finish isolating the X by multiplying by 4 on both sides, and then it just simple order of operations."

I scoffed at him. "Maybe it's not hard for you," I sighed, leaning leisurely back into my chair. "Let's take a break and play GameSphere or something, I can finish this later."

"Stan…" Kyle warned, he knew well of my tendency to procrastinate.

"It's fine, I promise I won't put it off too much longer," I reassured him. "I just need a break."

Kyle simply sighed at me. "Okay dude, your choice"

"Hey, so do you wan - Oh, hey Sparky! C'mere boy!" I called out when I spotted the familiar bulky form of my dog sniffing around outside my door.

At my acknowledgement, Sparky looked in our direction, ears perking up and tail beginning to wag before bounding excitedly towards us. I grunted slightly as jumped into my lap and attempted to lick my face… this dog was delusional, I love him to pieces, but he does still think he's a small dog when that is clearly not the case. Kyle was chuckling in the background at my futile attempts to push the exuberant canine off of my lap.

"Hey Sparky!" Kyle called out, prompting him to finally jump off of my lap to go see Kyle, rolling over lazily onto Kyle's feet as he begged for stomach rubs. "Aww, yes you're a cute boy! Yes you are!" Kyle cooed out in his best baby talk voice, Sparky groaning contently from the belly scratches. "Haha, do you remember that whole 'red rocket thing from when we were kids?" He laughed and I felt my face flush slightly at the embarrassing memory. "What a mess that was. Hilarious when our parents found out though."

I forced out a chuckle, awkwardly scratching the back of my head. I can't say I was too fond of the memory of when I accidentally jacked off my dog. "Yeah that was a mess," I replied. "We were kids though, we didn't know any better."

We sat there in silence for a few moments, Sparky's over-excited pants the only sound to be heard as Kyle continued to scratch his belly while he rolled around on the ground. No 'red-rocket' this time though, thankfully. His curly red strands of hair were dangling loosely down over his forehead and sinewy muscle laced his arms, which was made clearly visibly when he flexed during his motions to rub Sparky's belly. He claimed today that our appearances were one of the things that were separating us as friends, but I don't know what he's talking about… he's not bad looking at all… for another male that is.

"So…" Kyle began, breaking the silence and snapping me out of my thoughts. "I heard that Kenny finally has a _real _girlfriend."

I chuckled lightly. Kenny? Yeah right. "I wouldn't necessarily call it that. Although he really has been into Red lately… I can't even imagine Kenny ever settling down with someone though. There is Cartman and his whole 'online girlfriend' thing though."

Kyle simply scoffed at this. "Yeah right. Fatass is lying. He just wants attention."

"You never know. There could be a girl out there that actually wants Cartman," I laughed.

"Doubtful. I'm certain every girl alive would sooner date a rock with a dildo attached than Cartman." Kyle replied rather scathingly, his hatred for Cartman quickly flaring even in this short conversation about him. "Adrian claims that he saw Cartman propositioning a prostitute the other day, and _even she_ turned him down." He laughed.

"Well, Cartman is also 17 dude, a bit young for a prostitute." I laughed awkwardly, Adrian's name-drop causing me to stiffen up just a little. I hated that guy so much, and I hated the fact that Kyle was friends with him. I wanted to know… I really wanted to know the nature of their relationship… "So, Kyle… about Adrian…"

At this, Kyle's eyes immediately narrowed in on me in suspicious caution. "What about him?" He bit out shortly.

"Just, what do you think about him?"

Kyle stared at me for a moment, holding his suspicious expression before finally relaxing and sighing. "He's nice and fun to hang out with, plus he has good stories about his time in France." I opened my mouth to respond, but Kyle cut me off. "And if you're referring to the fact that he hits on me, I already know," He stated plainly.

At this my jaw went slack. _What? _He already knew? What the hell. "I… ahh… yeah…" I stumbled out, unable to form coherent words.

"I'm not an idiot, Stan." Kyle stated, his expression neutral. "I can tell when someone is obviously interested, just like Bebe was in our sophomore year. And the fact that Adrian likes dudes is written all over him."

"Wait, _wait_. You knew that Bebe was crushing on you? What the hell dude? Everyone thought that you were oblivious to all of it. I told Wendy that you didn't want to date Bebe because you didn't understand relationship shit yet." I exclaimed, rambling off my words as soon as they hit my mind. I can't believe it… "Why _didn't _you want to date her? She's one of the hottest girls in school." Although, I honestly didn't want him to date her at the time either…

Kyle simply shrugged. "I wasn't interested in her. And before you say anything, no, I'm not interested in Adrian either."

It made me oddly happy to hear Kyle say that… "So why the fuck do you hang around him then? Doesn't the flirting get annoying?"

"Like I said, he's nice and I don't want to hurt his feelings by rejecting him, he doesn't have many friends here yet. I mean, you hang around Kenny a lot and he flirts all the time."

_Yeah_, not with me though.

I don't get it, but I didn't want to antagonize him further after we just made up.

"Right, okay dude." I resigned.

"Anyways, we should finish your algebra homework, isn't it due tomorrow?" Kyle said, moving to stand back up from his kneeled position next to Sparky, who was now passed out on his back and snoring quietly.

I groaned. Fuck that homework. "How about we play our GameSphere game first?"

Kyle sighed before standing up straight and grinning confidently at me. "Fine, if I win, you're finishing your homework with no more breaks."

I returned his grin. "You're on."

…

_To be continued…_


	5. Maybe I'm Just Sensitive

**A/N: This chapter was originally longer, but it ended up getting **_**too **_**long so I split it up into two sections. So yes, fewer scenes, but the good part is that the next chapter is almost done! So hopefully it won't take me so long to update this time. Also, can I just comment on South Park finally addressing Yaoi? Congratulations to Creek fans and your semi-canon pairing! I can't say I'm a huge Creek shipper, but that episode was great and I like the pairing just a little bit more now after seeing that episode.**

**Before I start saying anything else, I wanted to give a huge thanks to all of you wonderful reviewers, as well as anyone who may have favorited or followed this story! You guys are really what gives me the drive to keep writing. I know I'm bad about updating quickly, but each time I get something in my box about this story it encourages me to write a little bit faster. :) So thank you! 3**

**Regarding the story again, I know I got a couple requests via PM and reviews, one being to have more Adrian and Kyle interaction and the other being to write in different POVs. I promise there will be more Adrian and Kyle interaction in both this chapter and the next couple chapters especially, and I'll try to add more of that in if that is something people want to see. However, keep in mind that this whole story is planned on being from Stan's POV, so directly showing certain interactions that are not involving him is a bit more difficult since it is being seen from his POV, but like I said, you'll be seeing more third party interactions (like Adrian and Kyle, as well as other characters) coming up soon. **

**I will more than likely not be switching POVs though. There are a few reasons I chose to write this first person from Stan's POV. One being is that the large majority of Style fics that I have seen are from Kyle's POV (especially the first person ones). Especially since I'm writing about a somewhat generic concept (South Park High School), I wanted to at least make my story somewhat different by writing about a less commonly used perspective. Additionally, switching PoVs just does not work well for this story, as while this story is not especially secretive, some things would be revealed too soon if I were to switch to other character's PoVs. I have considered adding one or two chapters near the end that would be from other character's perspectives, probably Kyle and Adrian (if people don't hate him too much), but 95%, if not all of the story will be from Stan's PoV. Sorry if that is disappointing to some, I really do want to make my readers happy and I'm always open to scene requests, but for the flow of the story, there are some things I just can't do to the extent that people would like. Hard to please everyone unfortunately. **

**Anyways, now that I'm done rambling on about nonsense (god, that was a really long A/N I'm sorry), on to the story!**

* * *

…

**Best Friends Forever**

…

Chapter 5

_Maybe I'm Just Sensitive_

**..**

**.**

"So, I heard from my parents that your dad got escorted out of the mall by policemen yesterday night, is that true?"

I groaned, planting my forehead directly into my palm and instinctively pinching the bridge of my nose the moment I heard the comment exit Kyle's mouth. "Ugh, don't remind me dude," I groaned out, earning an amused chuckle from Kyle.

I loved my dad, I really did, but he was, without a doubt, the most embarrassing person in my life. He would be an easy contender for the most embarrassing father ever award. Apparently he was insistent that one of those lotto tickets he had bought a week ago was a winning one, and had argued with a cashier at one of the stores about it, refusing to leave when told that it was in fact not a winner, thus resulting in the police being called and him being escorted out.

Embarrassing, so embarrassing.

It is fortunate that it was only a warning for him, and fortunate for me that Kyle is likely the only person that knows about it right now, considering Gerald and my dad are reasonably good friends.

"Hey Kyle," I perked up instantly when I heard the familiar, accent-coated voice only to feel that all too familiar hatred boil in my gut when I met the ever-so-happy eyes of Adrian. "And…Stan." He briefly looked towards me and nodded a greeting, a rather fake looking smile gracing his lips as he sat at the desk on the other side of Kyle.

"Hey," Kyle's eyes flickered over to me briefly before he returned Adrian's greeting with a smile, which made my stomach twist in a horribly uncomfortable way.

Biology, our 2nd period class, is the first class we actually have with Adrian. Adrian, surprisingly, took the more advanced English class and was thus not in ours. I was quite happy to have a break from him early in the morning, but it still sucked that we had four out of six classes with him.

"So, after a lot of thinking, I've decided that your karate classes sound like a great addition to my after school curriculum!" Adrian beamed at Kyle and I felt my stomach contort itself even further. "I turned in all the paperwork, signed by my parents and all. My first day is today! Isn't that exciting that we'll be doing this together?"

I do remember Adrian talking about this earlier, but I had _really _hoped he wouldn't go through with it.

"Really?" Kyle replied, appearing mildly surprised. "Well, it's a lot of fun. I'm still pretty amazed they let us practice that sort of thing in a public school, but our instructor, who's also the P.E. teacher was so into it that the school let him add it on as an extracurricular. I enjoy it. I'm sure you will too."

"Oh, I'm sure there are _plenty _of things to enjoy there," he said with a wink.

I noticed that Kyle's body stiffened slightly at this remark, but he trudged through this apparent discomfort and smiled at him. "Yeah, it's fun. I'll plan on seeing you there then."

I, on the other hand, was having quite a difficult time controlling myself from giving Adrian an early intro to martial arts by walking over there and punching him square in the face. But I didn't. Kyle said he could handle this, Kyle said that he wasn't bothered by Adrian. I need to trust him. Calm down Stan.

Before meeting Adrian, I had considered myself a fairly relaxed, calm person. I'd been called a pacifistic hippy more than a few times. I never knew that someone could make me feel this much anger _just by looking at them_. Not even Cartman could do that.

"Dude, what the fuck?" Speaking of Cartman… "That's my spot," he glowered at Adrian as he stood next to his desk, the desk that normally belonged to Cartman. That was our traditional way in the classes we had together – Kyle and I would sit next to each other, Kenny would sit on the other side of me and Cartman, for some reason, would always sit next to Kyle.

Even though he was in the same first period as Kyle and I, Cartman almost always arrived _just _before class started well after Kyle and I due to his tendency to take long bathroom breaks between each class, likely a result of all that garbage he eats. This was the first time Adrian actually sat in his spot though, even though he typically arrived before Cartman. Normally he always sat near Kyle, but never right next to him. He's getting bold.

Adrian glanced up at Cartman and flashed him a rather taunting smirk. "First come, first serve," he said simply. "There are plenty of other spots still open."

Cartman glared at him, puffing himself up and advancing on the desk slightly. "That spot is mine you gay faggot, I always sit there," Cartman insulted, and I noticed Adrian cringe slightly at the derogatory language. I was secretly rooting for Cartman, but I did feel a touch, and by that I mean _a very small amount_, of sympathy for Adrian in this moment. It must not be easy growing up as an openly gay kid… "Kahl, tell your twink boyfriend to move," Cartman glanced towards Kyle and ordered.

Kyle glared at him. "No." He stated simply. "I'd rather have him sit next to me than your fatass any day. All you do is look for reasons to make fun of me."

"There you have it." Adrian added on. "He'd rather have me next to him than you, so kindly go away," Cartman looked back towards him and scowled angrily. "Also, "faggot"? Really? What are you, ten?"

Cartman scoffed and stormed past us towards the back of the room, Kyle glaring at him all the while. "Whatever. Fucking homos," I heard him mutter.

"Dick." Kyle insulted under his breath. "Sorry about that Adrian… he's always like that."

"Oh… no worries," He responded, that signature smile of his returning to his face, but I couldn't help but note that he looked almost sad behind that facade. "I'm used to people treating me like that quite honestly… although I have been wondering since I got here how you have managed to put up with someone like him for as long as you have."

Kyle barked out a short laugh. "I don't know either."

I could relate to that response. Although I still vastly preferred Cartman over Adrian. That's not to say I was approving of Cartman insulting Adrian's sexuality – but that's Cartman, and we're all used to it.

Arriving just in the nick of time, our Biology teacher, Mrs. Brown, hurriedly entered the classroom, the class's chattering dying down at her arrival. Kenny crept in behind her, putting his finger up to his lips in hopes of keeping the class quiet as he snuck over to the desk next to me, flashing us a cocky smile as he took his seat.

"Okay class!" She chimed as she tugged a substantially sized book out of her bag and dropped it on the table before moving to push her thick glasses higher up the bridge of her nose. "Today we're going to continue our plant section learn a little bit about flora reproduction."

Oh how fun. _I'm so excited_. I heard rustling beside me as Kyle began to tug is notebook and a pencil out of his backpack and I begrudgingly did the same. Time for another boring class.

…

"And so remember, Meiosis consists of two phases, Meiosis I and Meiosis II, and each of those phases consists of three stages: Prophase, Metaphase, Anaphase, and-" the bell chimed signaling the end of class and the students wasted no time putting their stuff away and rushing out of the classroom. "-Telophase… alright class, remember you have homework on page 133, problems 1-18! It's due next week!" Mrs. Brown spoke loudly over the sounds of the rustling sounds of the students as they filed out of the classroom.

I sighed, dropping my own notebook into my backpack and casually swinging it over my arm before following Kyle out of the room, scowling at Adrian's backside as he walked next to Kyle, effectively blocking me from also being next to him in the narrow hallway. My eyes wandered back to Kyle, unwittingly drifting southward as I trailed behind him. Huh, does he always wear jeans that are that tight?

I was jogged out of my own haze when I felt someone punch me lightly in the arm, looking over to meet the grinning face of Kenny as he casually fell into step with me. "Hey," he greeted. "You look pretty red, something wrong?"

I blinked at him. "Ah…" Was I really that flushed? Sure, I was a bit heated still from earlier, but I didn't think it was _that _noticeable. "No, I'm fine. Just a little hot is all."

"Oh, yes. You're _very _hot," Kenny affirmed sarcastically with a curt nod.

"You know what I meant," I scowled at him.

"Right."

"Anyways," I said with an eye roll. "What were you doing before class that made you so late?"

"Oh, you know…" He began slyly with a wink.

"Never mind. I don't want to know," I said quickly. I can't say I was interested in hearing him ramble on about is pseudo-girlfriend/fuckbuddy some more.

"Aw, I'm crushed!" He exclaimed dramatically. "And here I was, all ready to tell you all about it!"

I simply chuckled at him, my attention flickering back to the pair walking in front of us, them proving to be somewhat of a distraction. I mean really Kyle, those pants are seriously _way too tight_.

"So Kyle," I heard Adrian begin. "I'm _really_ having a hard time understanding this meiosis and mitosis stuff… do you think we could meet up after school for some one on one tutoring?"

One on one tutoring… what's _that _supposed to mean? I narrowed my eyes at the back of his head.

"Sure! I love helping out classmates!" Kyle spoke cheerfully. You aren't supposed to sound so happy about that Kyle! I felt a feeling dangerously close to jealousy boil in my gut. Maybe _I _need help with this reproduction stuff too! "…Oh, but I almost forgot, I have karate practice tonight… but you're going to that too right? Maybe we can study afterwards."

Adrian grinned at him, and that inexplicable urge to punch him in the face returned. "That sounds wonderful!" He said gleefully, casually swinging his arm over Kyle's shoulder.

I felt just a little bit happier when I noticed Kyle flinch away from this motion, forcing out laughter while carefully unwinding himself from Adrian's arm. Good. Keep rejecting him. Although it still made me quite unhappy that Adrian was continuing to try in the first place, despite the fact that Kyle is _straight_ and he has zero chance with him.

Studying together though? That was something Kyle and I normally did together… I realize that this could be more related to the pride Kyle gets from teaching others than anything. He did always like being a big fish in a small pond, and I think that was part of the reason he opted out of taking non-AP classes – not _just _because he wanted to be in class with me. He always understood everything and loved to pass on that knowledge.

Not that I was complaining, I was quite thankful to have someone smarter to share their knowledge with me, and you can't get much smarter than Kyle. But sharing it with someone else too? I don't know… it should be fine, but I still didn't like it.

I didn't like it at all.

…

Oh, shop class. The class where men can prove that they're men, and women who don't want to take home economics can also prove that they're men. What a waste of time. Not saying there aren't some uses to shop class… it's just not my cup of tea. Not that a cooking class was any better. Why can't there be a 'pet puppies and kittens' class instead?

Don't get me wrong, I used to enjoy shop a great deal as a kid. Learning how to work with tools and be handy on your own, it's useful right? But I already learned the basics there, and now it has just become the same mundane thing over and over again. No amount of alcohol could get me through this class.

I could have taken home economics with Kenny, who shamelessly opted out of shop. 'It's a bad omen' he had said – although I was pretty certain it was mostly just so he could bang the girls in that cooking class.

I fumbled with my toy car, brows furrowed, trying, with no avail to glue on the first, rather squarish wheel to the wooden body. This is dumb.

"It's not going to work that way," I perked up, eyes frittering towards Kyle who was staring pointedly at me, a single red eyebrow of his quirked.

"Huh?" I responded, remaining hunched over the table.

"The wheel." Kyle pointed to my car. "It won't turn if it's glued on like that, you have to create an axle."

I blinked, staring at the wooden structure in my hand for a moment before it dawned on me what he meant. "Oh."

That's right…

"Yeah…" Kyle stated, mild concern briefly flashing through his eyes before he resumed working on his own vehicle – one that was much better put together than mine.

I wasn't usually bad at shop. Sure, I didn't _like _it, but I wasn't bad at it. I had at least a B in the class. I was quite distracted today though. I did have a lot on my mind. A lot had happened over the past couple of weeks, and apparently it waited until now to spread through and consume my mind like wildfire. Adrian, the fight with Kyle, Kyle and I making up, Adrian again… it was a combination of aggravating and worrying. Even though Kyle and I _had _made up, I still felt somewhat uncomfortable around him now… and our conversation did little to cease my growing hatred for Adrian. Them attending after school activities and then studying together did little to help the situation as well.

I don't know. Maybe I'm just sensitive, as Kyle seemed just fine.

It was weird. I think I'll just blame it on Adrian, who fortunately, was not in this class. Pretty much everything lately has been his fault anyways.

"Ooo, the big bad football player can't even make a toy car? Tsk, what will Wendy say?" I heard Cartman jeer on the other side of Kyle. "Maybe I should show her what a _real _man can do." He boasted tauntingly as he motioned towards his own wooden vehicle.

I simply rolled my eyes, silently. I wasn't going to humor him with a response, that's what he wanted and I always made a point to not give that to him.

"Shut the fuck up Cartman," Kyle retorted, fiery red brows creased into a firm glare.

Plus, why would I need to respond if Kyle would just do it for me? I let out a quiet chuckle, smiling slightly to myself as looked back towards my poor excuse of a wooden car. This is still stupid.

"Oh excuse me," Cartman responded, dramatically throwing his hands into the air. "I didn't know your _boyfriend _needed someone to defend him."

Kyle simply scoffed in response, rolling his eyes. "Whatever."

No witty retort? How odd, usually Kyle and Cartman could go on like this for hours. Quite honestly, I was a bit disappointed, I could use the distraction to make this stupid class go quicker. However, as if the Gods were looking down on me today, a moment later the bell rang indicating the end of class and start of lunch. Thank God.

I hastily returned my materials back to the proper locations and stuffed the remainder of my wooden car into my drawer, before gathering my back pack and moving to head to lunch. "Aren't you guys coming…?" I paused, staring at Kyle and Cartman who made no move to put their things away.

"Eh," Kyle began with a shrug, eyes briefly flickering up to stare at me before he resumed his attention back on his toy car. "I think I'm going to stay here and finish this."

"I'm with Jew Boy," Cartman said, jabbing an indicative finger in Kyle's direction. "I'm failing this class, I need the extra credit for finishing this early."

"Oh, okay. I guess I'll catch up with you guys later then," I responded with a shrug as I leaned down to grasp the strap of my back pack, casually slinging it over my shoulder.

Kyle enjoyed shop, so it wasn't horribly uncommon for him to occasionally stay after class. As Cartman had so kindly pointed out, we get extra credit for finishing up projects early, and that was more than enough to sway Kyle as well despite him likely already having an A. Not me though, although I did feel a bit bad about leaving him behind with Cartman.

…

I'll be honest, it felt a bit awkward shuffling through the crowded halls without anyone with me. If it wasn't Kyle and Cartman following me after class, it was Kenny meeting me after home economics. I stopped, scanning the vicinity around where his class gets out. My eyes briefly locked with those of a blushing girl's across the hall who I did not recognize, surrounded by her group of giggling friends. I groaned inwardly at the stupidity of it, I was pretty used to this sort of attention, but it was still… stupid. But, not wanting to be rude, I flashed them a small smile, causing the targeted girl's blush to deepen and her gaggle of giggling friends to grow even more obnoxious. Ridiculous, just ridiculous. Thank God Wendy is not like that.

No Kenny though, I wonder where he is? I did, unfortunately, spot a familiar blonde head that was not the one of my womanizing friend. I felt myself stiffen as Adrian made his way out of the home economics classroom, long, sandy blonde hair fluttering behind him and his hips swaying with a confident sashay that you would normally expect from a woman on the red carpet. Ugh. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't get how he acted around Kyle out of my head. His blatant, shameless flirting this morning and practically every other day, and now that I know that Kyle was just tolerating it to be nice, it made me even more aggravated, an uncomfortable feeling rolling around in my gut at the mere thought.

This was perhaps the only time that both him and I would be alone, and I could confront him and perhaps put a stop to it, for Kyle's sake. Yes, I would do that. I sped up, trailing behind him until I got close enough to tap him on the shoulder.

Seemingly unsurprised, he turned around and flashed me a small, yet fake smile. "Oh, hello Stan. Can I help you with something?"

I exhaled a forceful breath of air through my nose before responding. "Can I talk to you? Privately?" I asked, trying to hide my already growing agitated stated as I pointed towards a quieter corridor in the hallway. He quirked a suspicious eyebrow at me. "Just for a moment."

"You know, I'm flattered," Adrian began as soon as we reached the location I led him to, brown eyes not-so-subtly glancing me up and down. "But you're really not my type."

I glared at him briefly before sighing harshly, hand finding my face and roughly pinching the bridge of my nose. So annoying. "That's not what I meant."

He rose his eyebrows slightly in amusement, a wry grin gracing his face. "If not that, then what? You don't have to hide it you know, I know it must be hard not to fall in love with all of this," he spoke fluidly, gesturing arrogantly to his body.

I scowled at him, more harshly this time. "I'm not into guys," I stated shortly, and his eyes flashed with a hint of amusement in a way that made me twitch with agitation. "Anyways, I wanted to talk to you about Kyle."

"Oh?" He raised a single eyebrow at me. "What about him?"

"You should know," I bit out, uncaring how rude it sounded. "The way you've been acting towards him is… not cool. I want you to leave him alone."

"What's wrong with the way I've been acting?" He spoke rather dramatically, extending out his arms to enunciate the point. "I'm just a kind fellow student, trying to better my relationship with him."

I felt single eyebrow twitch in annoyance. This guy is so… aggravating! He knows what I mean. He's doing this on purpose. "Kyle isn't gay. You have no chance." I stated matter of factly.

"Oh?" Adrian began with a lilt of amusement, eyes flashing knowingly at me. "Not gay you say? That's cute."

I narrowed my eyes suspiciously at him. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"I'm saying, that it's cute that you think Kyle isn't gay," He began, and I felt my annoyance begin to turn into anger. Is he implying that he knows more about Kyle than _I do_? Kyle is _my _best friend – if he was gay, he would tell me. "You're straight… supposedly, so you don't know these things. But me…" Adrian grinned at me and pointed to his eyes. "I can sense a gay guy from a mile away. It's a talent."

"Well, you're wrong." I stated simply. "If Kyle was gay, I would know."

"You think so? Well, maybe you're just not paying _close enough attention_," he winked at me and I clenched my teeth, trying to restrain myself from acting more impulsively than what was wise. "But," he continued dramatically. "You are right though that my chances are rather low right now. The poor guy seems to be pretty hung up on someone he _can't have. _I'm just trying to help him get over that. You want him to be happy, don't you?"

Of course I do. But Kyle would never be happy with someone like Adrian. Not to mention, Kyle isn't even gay! Clearly Adrian is delusional along with being annoying.

"Look," I stated through gritted teeth, advancing on him slightly in effort to appear intimidating; he was around my height, but my more muscular frame easily dwarfed his. Although Adrian didn't budge an inch, standing there with eyes partially closed and an amused smile gracing his lips. It really, _really_ pissed me off. "Just leave him alone. Stop following him around like a lost puppy at school, stop trying to hang out with him, stop trying to go to his after school events. Just. _Stop_."

I quickly turned on my heel and walked away, leaving behind the seemingly unfazed Adrian. I got my point across, regardless of whether he listens or not. Either way, I don't think I could continue to face him without holding back the urge to beat him right there in the hallway.

"If the other guy won't make I move," I heard him speak quietly behind me as I walked away. "Then why can't I?"

What the hell is that supposed to mean? Who is this other guy anyways? Probably just someone he's making up, If Kyle had a crush on someone, he would tell me. That's what best friends do right? They share things with each other. Either way, I didn't care to turn back around and find out. I made my point and now I was quite committed and content with ending that conversation.

Whether or not he would listen to me is likely a whole different ballfield though.

_To be continued…_


	6. That Looks Like it Really Hurt

**A/N: I think this is record updating time for me! :) **** Less than two weeks, mainly because this chapter was already half done. This was originally supposed to be part of the last chapter, but I stretched it out and turned it into two (mainly because it was getting too long). I dedicate this chapter to when I took martial arts in my Jr. high school years, although I did judo and tae kwon do, not karate. But based on some of the research I did, a lot of stuff overlaps anyways. Originally I was going to have Kyle be into boxing or wrestling (he's pretty aggressive in the show, so fighting sports seemed like they would suit him), but martial arts is a bit more interesting to write about, so here we are. Enjoy!**

* * *

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**Chapter 6**

…

_That Looks Like it Really Hurt_

_.._

_._

"You're doing what?" Kyle stared at me in disbelief, a single red eyebrow quirked as we stood in the gym locker room after school.

"You heard me," I responded, smiling at him. "I'm coming with you to your practice today. I want to see what this fighting business is all about."

"_You?_ What happened to the: 'I don't fight, I'm not a violent person, fighting is the wrong way to solve issues, fighting encourages bullying and war' stuff you told me a year ago when I first invited you to come to practice with me?"

I chuckled at his mock imitation of my voice before shrugging. "I changed my mind. I decided you were right when you told me back then that this stuff is no more violent than football."

That was a lie. Truthfully, I just wanted to keep an eye on Adrian, who was supposed to be showing up for this today. The thought of fighting with someone on purpose actually made me a little uncomfortable… although I wouldn't complain much if I got to fight Adrian. I'd love to wipe that smirk off of his face.

"Well, that's great. I'm glad," Kyle admitted, a puzzled look still marring his face. "But your parents have to sign paperwork to do this sort of stuff."

"Already handled," I grinned at him. "Checked with my football coach earlier today, and he said the paperwork you and your parents sign for the two activities are the same. Same sort of risks I guess."

"Huh, didn't know that," Kyle mused before smiling at me. "Well then I'm glad you're coming! The Sensei will be thrilled to have two new people coming today between you and Adrian. He loves newcomers." He looked me up and down briefly, an action which, strangely enough, made a weird chill cascade down my spine. Very weird. "You don't have a gi…" Kyle continued. "But you should be fine wearing your regular gym clothes as long as they're easy to move around in… oh, and be sure you wear your cup."

Oh right, those white robe things that people wear during martial arts; 'gi's'. I always would forget the name of those. I suppose wearing the cup is self-explanatory.

"Okay, good," I said cheerily before moving to fumble with the lock to my locker. "I'll go get changed then."

I watched out of the corner of my eye as several more people filed into the room, Craig amongst them – many of them regulars to the class I presume, as I saw most of them each day I came to go to the weight room. I narrowed my eyes when I spotted the familiar blonde haired person that was the very reason I was coming to this class enter the room, a grin forming on his face as he spotted Kyle and made his way over to him.

"Kyle!" He greeted, crowding him from behind against the lockers and placing a hand on his shoulder.

I scowled darkly at this action as I watched them closely out of the corner of my eyes, my gut twisting uncomfortably. I see my warning did absolutely _nothing_ to deter him.

Kyle jumped slightly at Adrian's action, whipping around to face him. "Oh, Adrian, hi," he greeted somewhat awkwardly. "I was wondering if you were still coming. Glad you could make it."

Adrian grinned at him, leaning down slightly. "I wouldn't miss this for _anything_. I really want to learn more about the stuff you enjoy."

"Oh yeah? Well, glad you're here then, it is pretty fun." Kyle shuffled awkwardly, inching away from him slightly. "Can you give me some space though? I need to tie my belt."

I slammed my locker shut, turning to around to see Adrian back away slightly – still not enough to where I would deem appropriate, but Kyle appeared fine with it _now_.

I truly did have a difficult time understanding what Kyle really thought of Adrian… I know that he's not receptive to his advances, but at times he seemed quite friendly towards the guy. But then there were other times that he appeared uncomfortable about it, even though he _claimed _that he did not mind Adrian flirting with him. I didn't know what to think – either way, I hated it. But I really didn't know what I hated more: Kyle being uncomfortable about it, or sort of receptive/friendly about it.

Quite honestly, both were pretty terrible.

"Kyle, are you coming?" My eyes flickered towards the source of the monotone, slightly nasally voice landing on Craig's taller form, fully clothed up in his gee and a decorative black belt encircling his waist. I watched as Craig's eyes shifted from Kyle to Adrian, his expression remaining as stoic as ever. "Who's this?"

"Craig, you've met Adrian, he sits at our table at lunch every day," Kyle responded, motioning towards Adrian. "He's coming to practice with us today."

"Nice to meet you. Again." Adrian greeted politely, although he seemed a bit annoyed that Craig had forgotten who he was.

Craig simply stared in silence at Adrian for a moment, slowly quirking an eyebrow. "Oh. How exciting," he eventually said with no real sincerity.

"That's not all, Stan's coming too today!" Kyle beamed, motioning towards me as I stepped forward to join the group.

"Yep," I affirmed. "Decided to finally check this out, since Kyle has been doing it for so long."

Adrian smiled at me, although apparent disappointment was easily visible behind that, which pleased me greatly. I was more surprised by Craig, whose normally stoic, passive expression darkened momentarily after hearing the news. I mean jeez, I know Craig and I didn't get along too well, but I didn't think he actually disliked me that much.

"Well, this is just great then," Craig spoke monotonously. "Two new people. I'm so _glad _you decided to come," I don't think he could possibly sound any less sincere. "Come along then, the room is this way." He waved us in his direction before turning and quickly walking that way.

I waited for Kyle to file past me after his classmate – well, _our _classmate I guess, and followed him towards the room.

I have no idea what to expect, but here goes nothing.

…

It was true, I didn't know what to expect, and I should have known better considering Kyle has told me that the person who teaches this is also the P.E. teacher. But… it was still so awkward to watch a middle aged white guy instructing a group of people on a Japanese fighting form. It was so contradictory to every kung fu movie I've ever watched.

"Yeah, yeah! Keep going, you guys got this!" Mr. Morris, the teacher – or should I say _sensei_, spoke with exuberance. I had forgotten how excited this guy really got over the smallest of things – like warming up.

Our first task was to do a variety of exercises – first stretching, and then the standard warm up stuff like jogging back and forth, push-ups, sit ups… that sort of thing, all easy stuff really; I can do push-ups with one arm tied behind my back. It was a bit strange to hear Mr. Morris count our reps in Japanese though, certainly wasn't used to that when I worked out.

The padded room that this was held in was quite interesting – I had never been in here before, but it was apparently used for both this karate class and wrestling. Thick white pads coated the entire room, even part of the ceiling, along with a few punching bags and a basket full of gloves and hand wraps in the corner. For a small town high school, South Park High really did have quite the elaborate gymnasium between this and the weight room.

I was somewhat surprised to see few familiar faces amongst the sea of underclassmen other than Kyle, and Craig and Adrian in the class. Tweek, Kevin Stoley, and a couple of those Asian girls that Wendy occasionally talks to – I could never remember, or really pronounce their names though. I did recall seeing Kevin in the locker room on these days, but never Tweek – although I do remember hearing a rumor that Tweek refuses to change in the locker room with everyone else because it's 'too much pressure'. Apparently he would change in the bathrooms instead. Bizarre. This really doesn't seem like it would be Tweek's thing in the first place, but I would imagine Craig was the one that got him into it considering the two were friends.

"… Hachi… Ku… And ju! Alright, finished!" Mr. Morris exclaimed, and I heard Kyle exhale next to me as he pushed himself up from his last push up, moving to sit in a kneeled position which I quickly mimicked. "Good job class!" Mr. Morris continued, beaming at as. "Since I know we have a few new faces here today, we're going to go over the basics again. The rest of you could stand to practice them a bit anyways."

I heard Craig scoff in front of me. "Boring," he muttered quietly.

"-alright, let's start off with your standard jab," the teacher continued with a swift demonstration – he moved pretty quickly for an older guy. "Right side first, let's try it out!"

…

Jabs, front kicks, sidekicks, round house kicks, elbow jabs, and multiple blocks… that was a lot of stuff to cram into the last thirty minutes. Apparently this class lasted two hours, so what in the world were we going to do for the next hour and a half?

Either way, I think I did quite well. Balancing was a bit hard at first with the round house kicks, but I got the hang of it. Mr. Morris even called me a 'natural', so elated at the fact that he had South Park High's "star" football player in his class. I'm not so sure I would go that far – but at least I was doing better than Adrian, who was stumbling all over the place.

I sent my last kick into the bag, watching as it swung forcefully back on the impact. That was ten reps as was instructed.

"Wow Stan, you're pretty good at this," Kyle praised as he watched me.

"Thanks," I responded, smiling at him. Surely having football experience on my belt didn't hurt for this sport.

"Alright class, good job!" Mr. Morris called attention to himself. "I think most of you got the hang of it, so we'll start getting into the real stuff. Since there are a few newer people here, upper belts I want you to pair up with them."

Upon hearing this, I turned to move towards Kyle, expectant that he would partner with me. I scowled when I saw Adrian move to grasp his arm, attempting to tug Kyle with him. "Partner with me Kyle?" He asked in a thick accent, flashing him a grin.

"Oh, umm…" Kyle's eyes flickered to mine, shooting me an apologetic look before turning back to Adrian. "Sure, let's go over to that corner."

I watched as Kyle led Adrian to their spot in the corner, Adrian briefly turning to flash me a smug smile before continuing to follow Kyle. Asshole. Not only did I already fail in doing what I even came to this class for, but now I don't even have a partner! I glanced around; the two Asian girls had paired up together, Tweek partnered with Kevin, and others in the class had already paired up amongst themselves. So who do I…?

"Well, I guess you're with me then," an unfortunately familiar monotone voice spoke from behind me. _Great_, just great.

I sighed, turning to face Craig, whose face was glazed with a bored expression. He truly was the last person I would have wanted to partner with. I would have even preferred Adrian just on the off chance that I would get to punch him a few times.

"Looks like it," I responded begrudgingly.

The class stood in silence as the Mr. Morris explained what we were supposed to do. How to 'block' punches and kicks apparently. It wasn't really as much blocking as it was teaching us how to endure strikes to our stomach. As he described it, we were supposed to breathe out and tighten our abs when someone strikes at our abdominal area. Doesn't explain much of what we would do if someone ties to hit you in the face, but supposedly he would get to that later.

"This is easy," Craig stated. "Alright, get into position, lets practice," he ordered.

I glanced over at Kyle briefly, who was currently instructing Adrian on what to do before I moved to stand in front of Craig and taking the fighting stance that I was taught earlier. "Okay, ready."

Before I knew it, Craig reeled his arm back and shot it directly into my abdomen, only giving me just enough time to tighten my abs in defense. I stumbled backwards from the impact, _definitely _feeling the sharp pain from the blow. Although I suppose it didn't knock the breath out of me at least – which has happened to me a couple times after being tackled during football.

"_Come on_. Stand your ground," Craig sharply berated. "You'll never win any fights if something like that sends you backwards."

"I get it," I snapped, moving back into position. "I wasn't expecting that. I'm ready now."

Once again Craig punched me in the stomach and, being more prepared for it this time, I was able to withstand it a little bit better, only stumbling back one step. It still hurt like a bitch. I thought the teacher told us to _take it easy_ at first. Craig was _not_ doing that. I wasn't going to wimp out though, I can handle it.

I withstood several more jabs to the gut from him, feeling myself able to tolerate each one a little bit better than the last. It still hurt though, and I'm pretty certain I could feel some bruises forming on my abdomen and was quickly reminded of why I wasn't a fan of this stuff. The random violence… I mean, when would I even be fighting someone anyways? Certainly football could be violent at times, but our goal wasn't to beat each other up, even if it did happen on accident on occasion. I was doing this for Kyle though, even if I already failed miserably at keeping Adrian away from him.

"Okay," Craig said, suddenly stopping his assault. "That's twenty. It's your turn now." I winced slightly as I rubbed my stomach, the skin tender from the multiple pinpointed strikes. I straightening myself up and facing Craig, who stood there as still as a statue, hands folded behind his back and chin slightly upturned, as if expectant of something. "Hurry up, I don't have all day," he berated again.

"_Okay_, I'm going," I responded sharply, taking position and sending my first jab into Craig's hardened stomach.

It was so odd to have someone to tell me to _hurry up and hit them_. I get that this is fighting practice, but the very concept of that is just bizarre. In fact, I was feeling slightly more okay with the fact that I was stuck with Craig. I would much rather be hitting him than someone I cared about, like Kyle.

Craig was strange. Boring, stoic, apathetic. A well-known bully for a time during our elementary school years. As we grew, the bullying side of him mostly went away, but the personality… that hasn't changed a lick. It's funny considering how different our personalities are, as people often commented that we looked alike. Similarly styled black hair, blue eyes, both tall, and both of us often wore blue clothing. In fact, there was such a likeness in middle school that our classmates joked that if we switched clothing, no one would be able to tell the difference. The funniest part of all of this is that we never really got along… our relationship was never necessarily fractious, but it was… _tentative_. I could never quite place why either, aside from our apparently incompatible personalities... Or it could be the Peru incident, he never did truly get over that.

"So…" I began as I threw another punch into his stomach, which hardly even seemed to faze him as he continued to stand there motionless, a bored expression painted on his face. I wouldn't have thought otherwise to make conversation during this, but he seemed to be unbothered enough by my assault that it likely would not matter. "How's your guinea pig? …Stripe, right?"

Kyle was on good terms with Craig, and while I didn't necessarily like that, I may as well try to make good with his other friends.

I tensed a bit when I saw his expression darken at my question, a sharp exhale heard as he pushed air out of his nose. "Stripe is dead," Craig responded shortly. Oh… _oh_… "Guinea pigs don't live very long you know. I have a new one now, named Sugar Maple."

"Oh… well, I'm sorry," I mumbled out, opting to keep my mouth shut from now on as I threw yet another jab into his stomach. I'm not even going to question why Craig chose to name his guinea pig 'Sugar Maple.'

Well, so much for making amends with him.

The rest of the class was… awkward to say the least. After this exercise, our wonderful sensei Mr. Morris decided that we needed a break from punching activities and had to learn some basic self-defense – for 'the newbies'. Some wrist twists, escaping holds, those sorts of things, some of which seemed to border on being more akin to wrestling than martial arts. I quickly discovered that being the receiver of such a hold put you in a rather compromising position, and well…

"Lay down," Craig ordered.

I blinked at him for a moment, frozen in place before sighing and begrudgingly moving to lay on the white padded ground. I felt my body visibly stiffen as Craig moved to straddle me, staring at me with a disinterested expression as he moved his hands to tightly grasp my neck as if choking me. His face was close enough that I could practically feel his cigarette coated breath waft over my skin.

Supposedly this was an incredibly important thing to know according to our teacher; how to get someone off if you're knocked onto the ground and they attempt to pin you. However, it really seemed like it would be more useful to girls who get into, well, unfortunate situations with guys… not another male like me. It was mostly just uncomfortable, and I most certainly did not want to be in this position with _Craig _of all people.

"Is this really necessary?" I asked, shifting uncomfortably.

"You really think I want to be doing this with you? This is around the fifth time I've learned this," Craig stated with an eye roll. "It's more important than you think. After all, there are all _sorts _of things I could do to a person in this position… I could choke you," I felt his hands tighten around my throat, slightly cutting off my breath – "elbow you in the face… gouge your eyes out. _Tons _of fun things. You best know how to escape it, so hurry up before we look like fucking faggots sitting like this in front of everyone."

Well, I suppose he did have a point. I gripped him by the hems of his gee, locking my legs around his ankles and swiftly shifted my hips to propel us up and around, effectively turning the tables as I landed on top of him in the similar position he had me in just seconds ago, him grunting slightly as his head knocked against the padded ground.

"Good job Stanley!" I heard Mr. Morris shout out in my direction.

I quickly got off of Craig, standing up and resituating the straps of my tank top. My eyes instinctively found Kyle, who was, unfortunately, practicing similar things in the corner with Adrian. Kyle situated on top of him in the similar position that Craig and I had been moments ago, but rather than hurriedly getting Kyle off of him like I had done with Craig, he instead grasped onto the hems of his gi and pulled him closer to his face, saying something that I could not hear, but I did see that it made a rather obvious flush form on Kyle's face.

Admittedly, despite my reason for coming here being to keep an eye on Adrian, I was having an incredibly difficult time watching them. Every time I looked over at them together, my gut would contort in such an uncomfortable mixture of anger and uneasiness that I just couldn't stand to continue to watch it. It was bad enough that I had to do these things with Craig, but it was even worse to watch Adrian use it to take advantage of my best friend. However, it was getting to the point where I couldn't stand to just ignore it any longer.

"Do you think we could switch partners?" I asked Craig, who had just picked himself up off the ground and was now dusting off his pants.

"Why?"

"Just… I thought it might be better to get to practice with multiple people," I responded with a shrug. "Wouldn't you rather pair with someone more experienced so you can get more practice?"

"Yes. Practicing with you is a waste of time," he responded with stoic honesty, raising his chin up slightly. Well jeez. "But the Sensei always wants the upper belts to partner with the newer people. People who are closer to the same weight generally partner together too, and you're closer to my size than anyone else in the class, unfortunately."

"I guess that makes sense, but-"

"Don't lie. You just want Kyle to be your partner, I know you two are funny together," he stated neutrally.

"What?! _No!_" I responded hastily, my eyes widening slightly. What the hell? Cartman, and now Craig with these jokes? Although Craig did not appear to be joking. Are these people missing the fact that I've had a _girlfriend _for the past seven years?! "Look," I began in a hushed voice, moving in closer to him so that no one else would hear. "That guy over there that's partnered with Kyle, he's been bothering him for weeks now. You're Kyle's _friend_ right? So you should care if he's being harassed!"

"Kyle is my friend," Craig affirmed. "And being that he is my friend, I know enough to know that he can handle himself."

"Please," I asked again, hating the fact that I was practically begging Craig to do something, but considering that he's the highest ranking person in the class aside from Mr. Morris, I assume that he has the power to make these switches. "Just this once. Kyle and I are pretty close in weight, and he's a higher belt too right? So it shouldn't matter too much if we switch."

Craig simply stared at me for a moment before sighing and rolling his eyes. "Fine."

Yes, _yes. _Thank you. This is the last time I'd ever think this about _Craig _of all people, but I owed him one. I watched him as he strode over to where Kyle and Adrian were in the corner, tapping on Kyle's shoulder and saying something. Moments later, Kyle was jogging in my direction while Craig to his spot in front of a very unhappy looking Adrian.

"Craig said that you wanted to practice with multiple people, so we're switching," Kyle explained to me, seemingly unaware of the real reason I wanted to switch.

"Oh, yeah, yeah I do," I said, going along with the lie. I wonder if Craig will ever tell him the truth, or keep it a secret? Kyle _would _probably be mad if he knew that I was trying to protect him.

I glanced over at Craig and Adrian, both of them looking equally unhappy with Craig appearing to be rougher with Adrian than he had been even with me, and Adrian glancing in my direction with a scowl on his face. I, on the other hand, couldn't be happier with this outcome. Perhaps Craig's rougher treatment would be enough to scare Adrian away from the class for good.

"So, do you want to practice the roll again or something else?" Kyle asked, a touch of awkwardness evident in his voice. "Anything really, I've done this stuff a few times before already."

I jerked my head back in Kyle's direction. That's a good question, I didn't really want to punch him like I had done earlier with Craig. "Uh, I guess we can do the roll."

I laid down, allowing Kyle to straddle me, a strange feeling arising in my groin as he put his weight on my waist. I swallowed thickly as I stared up at him. I figured this would be easier to do with Kyle, but somehow, it was even more awkward. I moved to grasp the hems of his gi, getting ready to flip him before he suddenly snatched my wrists and pinned them above my head, causing me to jump slightly and look at him confusedly.

"It…" I heard him gulp, an edge of uneasiness evident in his voice. Is Kyle actually _nervous_? That's practically unheard of. I mean, we were in an _awkward _position, but it's just me. "It makes it harder if you can't use your hands… try just doing the motion with your hips."

I nodded and swallowed again, wiggling my pinned wrists as I locked my feet with his and twisted my hips. It was more difficult, but I still managed to propel us around, our chests colliding as I landed none-too-gracefully on top of him. I coughed, the air being slightly knocked out of me from the impact before sitting up and staring down at Kyle below me, quickly looking away when our eyes met and feeling my face heating up slightly.

I got off of him and we both stood up, me watching as Kyle fixed his belt which had become disheveled from the sloppiness of the exercise. "A little messy, but good job… you'll get better with practice," Kyle smiled at me.

I forced out an awkward laugh, scratching the back of my head. "Yeah… seems like it takes a while to get the hang of."

But why? Why did I feel so strangely about this? I have done similar things in football when learning how to tackle people – it certainly resulted in compromising positions at times, but I never felt off about it. I had just done the very same exercise with Crag just minutes ago, and while it was uncomfortable, it wasn't _quite _the same as what I was feeling right now. Kyle is my best friend – I should be most comfortable doing this with him of all people, so _why_ am I feeling this way?

I don't understand.

Before we could continue, Mr. Morris halted the practice, announcing that we were moving on to something else. I felt conflicted, a part of me wanted to do more of this, and another part of me desperately wanted to move on to something else – or just _leave_ – because of how uncomfortable it made me feel.

Fortunately, that was decided for me, as we were now apparently moving onto something less… personal. Mr. Morris emphasized that, along with learned basic self-defense like we had just gone over, learning how to block was one of the most important aspects of martial arts. He claimed we were learning more advanced blocks later, but for now, he had us practicing something that almost reminded me of boxing. Apparently, we were to just practice redirecting strikes to the face – which really made more sense to me than the 'block' we were taught earlier, because really, who would go for your stomach when they could go for your face?

"Want to go first?" Kyle asked, him punching his now-gloved hands together – each of us were required to wear gloves just to be safe.

"Sure," I responded, moving into fighting stance and putting my guard up.

"I'll start off slow," Kyle said, throwing his first jab, which I easily caught and pushed out of the way due to the slower pace of it.

"Thanks, nice of you, a lot nicer than your friend _Craig_. Great guy that one," I spoke bitterly as I blocked another punch from Kyle.

Perhaps I shouldn't even be talking, as Craig did help me out a bit. Yes, I did owe him for helping me out earlier, but he was none too nice about it and he certainly made no effort to hide his dislike of me when he was my partner.

"Why? What did he do?" Kyle spoke in a hushed tone, likely due to the fact that Craig was only just on the other side of the room.

"He's just an asshole, that's what," I responded harshly. "It's obvious he just wanted to partner with me because he doesn't like me and wanted to take advantage me being here… why is he your friend again?"

"Don't be so cynical, Craig doesn't dislike you," Kyle stated as if it was obvious – it wasn't. "It probably just seems rougher because you're new. You'll get used to it."

"I guess." I wasn't so certain I would be coming back, even if Adrian wasn't scared away today. Coming today pretty much confirmed that this wasn't my thing.

"So what does Wendy think of you doing this?" Kyle suddenly asked as he continued to throw jabs at me, steadily increasing in pace as I continued to block them.

I shrugged. "She was a bit worried, but no more than she is when I play football. She's always worried about me getting brain damage or some shit from it."

"Sounds like her," Kyle bit out. "Always _so _over protective."

"Dude, come on," I responded with a sigh. "I know you don't always like how she treats me, but we've talked about this. It's fine."

"I don't mean it in a bad way… it's just true, we- ah, keep your guard up Stan!" Kyle stopped and suddenly warned as my hands steadily begin to fell from my face, me having gotten distracted from the turn of the conversation. "Anyways, she doesn't have to worry here at least. We take precautions to make sure everyone is safe. The school would have a fit other-"

"_Craig!"_ My guard immediately fell as Mr. Morris's booming voice interrupted Kyle.

The class fell silent and I immediately whipped around, eyes darting to where Craig and Adrian were practicing only to see Adrian on the ground, his nose bloodied as he glanced up nervously at the uncaring boy standing above him.

"Whoops," Craig finally stated with no real sincerity.

"Holy shit dude, his nose looks broken," Kyle whispered to me.

Mr. Morris rushed over to where Adrian was, kneeling next to him and inspecting his now misshapen nose. The room was so silent it was eerie, only broken by the occasional hushed whispers, everyone having halted their practice and was now staring at the scene unfolding in front of them. "You should know better Craig," Mr. Morris scolded.

"He attacked me!" Adrian suddenly accused, pointing a trembling hand at a disinterested looking Craig as he was helped up off the ground by Mr. Morris.

Craig merely shrugged. "You should have blocked it. Now you know better."

"Fifty push-ups Craig," Mr. Morris ordered, jabbing his hand out and pointing to a corner on the other side of the room. "Go over there and get started."

"Fine. I apologize Sensei," Craig responded begrudgingly with a quick dip of his head into a small bow before jogging to the other side of the room.

"Kyle, can you go get the first aid kit?" Mr. Morris asked and Kyle nodded, promptly running out of the room to retrieve said item.

I watched, backing up against the wall slightly to make room as Mr. Morris led Adrian to the chairs situated on the side of the room, instructing him to sit down as he waited for Kyle to return with the first aid kit. I almost felt bad for him, _almost_ \- that did look like it really hurt. But, if something like his doesn't scare him away from the class, I don't know what will.

Kyle returned to the room moments later, red kit in hand. Mr. Morris took it, opening it up and rifling through it while Kyle bent down next to Adrian, asking him if he was okay. It did look pretty awful, bloodied and bent partially to the side. Definitely broken, that's for sure. Poor guy, but he had it coming, and it works out fine for me.

After all, I'm pretty certain someone like Adrian wouldn't want his 'pretty' face getting disfigured.

So, mission accomplished I guess. For now that is.

…

_To be continued_

…

**A/N: I'm really excited to get over this hump! From here on out is where the story really starts to get moving, which _might_ mean faster updates since I'm excited to write about it. Anyways, thanks for reading! I hope to hear your thoughts in reviews (*hint hint*) ;)**


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